New Future Mobility Lab will explore ways to best decarbonise transport

A UNIQUE multidisciplinary research group at the University of Huddersfield has been forged to investigate how we can most effectively decarbonise transport to ensure a more sustainable future. 

Huddersfield Business School has launched the UK’s first Future Mobility Lab (FML) under the leadership of the University’s Dr Alexandros Nikitas, to promote the interdisciplinary study of sustainable and socially inclusive mobility and automated, connected, alternatively fuelled, digitised and shared transport, as well as inspiring travel behaviour change.  

“Research on how we can best decarbonise transport, by making private car use less indispensable or drastically smarter, is the mission of the Future Mobility Lab.  This manner of research is critical if we are to pave the way for society to have a sustainable and more liveable future,” said Dr Nikitas.

Decarbonisation and sustainability are areas of strategic research importance to the University and the FML, which is a part of the University’s new Sustainable Living Research Centre and has been awarded funding to support the Department of Logistics, Marketing, Hospitality and Analytics’ research excellence in transport studies. 

“FML currently has members from Huddersfield Business School, the School of Computing and Engineering as well as the School of Applied Sciences,” explained Dr Nikitas, who was also recently announced as the new Chair of the UK’s Universities Transport Study Group (UTSG). 

“By combining business, behavioural, planning and engineering approaches we will study how a socio-technical transition to sustainable futures is achievable through making transport a more intelligent, pro-environmental, resource-efficient, health-improving, equitable and safe medium,” he added. 

High hopes for the Future Mobility Lab 

Dr Nikitas revealed FML has recently recruited a PhD candidate in Sustainable and Shared Transport in partnership with Kirklees Council’s Major Project Team who have fully sponsored the post via the Transforming Cities Fund initiative.  By September 2022, FML also hopes to have recruited a Research Fellow to support its activities.

A Reader in Smart Transport and also the Deputy Director of the School’s Behavioural Research Centre and a partner in Leeds City Region Supply Chain Programme, Dr Nikitas recently launched the University’s Green Week 2022 where he spoke about the newly established Future Mobility Lab and explored the opportunities and challenges for transport decarbonisation. 

“We hope to launch in the next two years a research-led MSc in Sustainable Transport and Artificial Intelligence (AI) which will be based at Huddersfield Business School and will be unique to the UK market,” said Dr Nikitas. 

The FML team is currently working on preparing research bids for a number of sustainable transport initiatives, will be launching a book on automated mobility risks, and is bringing to Huddersfield the annual UTSG’s international conference for 2024.