PhD Position Co-Creating Accessibility Metrics for Inclusive Travel Journeys

Are you passionate about making public transportation and public space more accessible? Join the BRIDGE-XR project and co-create real-world accessibility solutions that transform public transportation in the Netherlands.

Job description

Creating accessible and inclusive travel journeys is one of today’s most pressing societal challenges. Despite advances in policy and technology, people with disabilities still face significant barriers to public transportation. Addressing these challenges requires collaboration across disciplines and sectors, bringing together researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and end-users to design solutions that truly work in practice.

We are seeking a highly motivated PhD Researcher to connect research and practice, ensuring that accessibility solutions are co-created, tested, and disseminated in collaboration with stakeholders across the Dutch transportation sector. You will focus on developing robust and comprehensive accessibility metrics, which will be used to evaluate and improve accessibility across all segments of a travel journey while prioritizing safety, inclusivity, and well-being.

This PhD position is part of the NWO-funded BRIDGE-XR project, which aims to provide a comprehensive examination of accessibility barriers in the Dutch public transportation and public space context.

In this role you will:

• Develop a Theory of Change framework to map long-term goals, conditions, and pathways toward more inclusive accessibility solutions for the public transportation sector.
• Synthesize insights from current practices, initiatives, and literature to identify key barriers, successes, and gaps in accessible travel.
• Co-create quantitative and qualitative accessibility metrics that assess barriers across different travel journey segments.
• Engage stakeholders, including people with disabilities, advocacy groups, operators, policymakers, and designers, through workshops, interviews, and co-creation sessions.
• Translate findings into policy recommendations, design guidelines, and create digital accessibility maps to provide practical tools for both users and practitioners.
• Collaborate closely with other PhD researchers and project partners across different work packages to ensure that findings contribute to the shared goals of creating accessible and inclusive travel journeys.

Your home base will be the Mobility in eXtended Reality Lab and the Smart Public Transport Lab in the Department of Transport & Planning within the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences. Our diverse team of researchers, project managers, and professors shares the ambition to create smart, sustainable, and equitable mobility systems. In our 12 collaborative labs we apply advanced technologies such as sensing, data analytics, modelling, and AI to turn scientific research into real-world impact. You’ll join an open, supportive environment that fosters learning and professional growth.

Job requirements

Must haves:

• Master’s degree in a relevant field (e.g., transportation, urban studies, geography, or related disciplines).
• Keen interest in accessibility, inclusivity, and the intersection of social sciences, policy, and design.
• Proficiency in both qualitative and quantitative research methods.
• Excellent communication and writing skills in English and ability to collaborate with diverse stakeholders.

Nice-to-haves:

• Experience with stakeholder engagement, participatory research, or co-creation methods is an asset.
• Dutch language skills are an asset.

TU Delft (Delft University of Technology)

Delft University of Technology is built on strong foundations. As creators of the world-famous Dutch waterworks and pioneers in biotech, TU Delft is a top international university combining science, engineering and design. It delivers world class results in education, research and innovation to address challenges in the areas of energy, climate, mobility, health and digital society. For generations, our engineers have proven to be entrepreneurial problem-solvers, both in business and in a social context.

Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences

The Faculty of Civil Engineering & Geosciences (CEG) is committed to outstanding international research and education in the field of civil engineering, applied earth sciences, traffic and transport, water technology, and delta technology. Our research feeds into our educational programmes and covers societal challenges such as climate change, energy transition, resource availability, urbanisation and clean water. Our research projects are conducted in close cooperation with a wide range of research institutions. CEG is convinced of the importance of open science and supports its scientists in integrating open science in their research practice. The Faculty of CEG comprises 28 research groups in the following seven departments: Materials Mechanics Management & Design, Engineering Structures, Geoscience and Engineering, Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Transport & Planning, Hydraulic Engineering and Water Management.

Conditions of employment

Doctoral candidates will be offered a 4-year period of employment in principle, but in the form of 2 employment contracts. An initial 1.5 year contract with an official go/no go progress assessment within 15 months. Followed by an additional contract for the remaining 2.5 years assuming everything goes well and performance requirements are met.

Salary and benefits are in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, increasing from €3059 - €3881 gross per month, from the first year to the fourth year based on a fulltime contract (38 hours), plus 8% holiday allowance and an end-of-year bonus of 8.3%.

As a PhD candidate you will be enrolled in the TU Delft Graduate School. The TU Delft Graduate School provides an inspiring research environment with an excellent team of supervisors, academic staff and a mentor. The Doctoral Education Programme is aimed at developing your transferable, discipline-related and research skills.

The TU Delft offers a customisable compensation package, discounts on health insurance, and a monthly work costs contribution. Flexible work schedules can be arranged.

Additional information

For more information about this vacancy, please contact Dr. Yan Feng (y.feng@tudelft.nl).