"PhD Position Application of eXtended Reality for City Logistics"

Help shape the future of sustainable urban mobility with immersive XR solutions. Join our team to design innovative solutions for smarter, more inclusive city logistics. Cities across Europe are rethinking how people and goods move through urban space. eXtended Reality (XR) technologies offer powerful ways to engage citizens, design inclusive interventions, and support data-driven decisions. At the department of Transport and Planning, you will play a central role in exploring and testing XR-supported mobility solutions within real-world pilot projects deployed in European cities.

In this position, you will develop VR-based immersive environments to test and evaluate urban mobility interventions (e.g., mobility hubs). You will design experiments to capture behavioural, cognitive, and physiological insights that deepen our understanding of how mobility users experience and respond to these interventions. A central part of the research will be to develop XR methods for incorporating diverse citizen perspectives into mobility design and planning, ensuring accessibility, inclusivity, and user acceptance.

You will also explore innovative AR applications to support intuitive navigation in redesigned urban spaces, such as bicycle parking. An AR-supported parking system will be developed and tested to provide users with real-time information on available spots, while also offering incentives for responsible parking behavior to improve efficiency and user experience.

Your home base will be the department of Transport & Planning and Mobility in eXtended Reality Lab, at the faculty of Civil Engineering & Geosciences. Our diverse team of PhDs, postdocs, project managers and professors all share the ambition to develop smart, sustainable, and equitable mobility systems. Our unique 12 collaborative labs develop and deploy the latest technology, including sensing, data analytics, modelling, simulation, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, and function as dynamic hubs where innovative scientific research is translated into real-world impact. Ours is an open, inspiring and friendly team, where we share knowledge and help each other. And you will get all the support and training you need to develop and grow in your career.

This PhD position is part of the EU-funded NEXTLOGIC project. NEXTLOGIC provides a collaborative and digitally empowered framework, offering a comprehensive suite of solutions to address current challenges in urban mobility. The project leverages advanced technologies and sustainable practices to promote the EU’s climate neutrality goals and support smart city initiatives. Its primary objective is to guide cities in their transition toward net-zero transport emissions by reallocating urban space, redesigning infrastructure, and optimizing the movement of people and goods through innovative resource planning, management, and real-time monitoring technologies for new mobility and logistics services.

We are looking for an enthusiastic and ambitious candidate with the following qualifications, knowledge, and skills: A master’s degree (or equivalent) in computer science, human-computer interaction, traffic engineering, or related fields. A solid background and interest in XR technologies and skills in developing XR applications using Unity/Unreal game engine. Demonstrable experimental skills, including experiment design, experiment setup, conducting experiments, and data collection. Proficiency in using programming tools (e.g., Python, C#) and statistics to support your work. An open-minded personality with a curiosity-driven mindset, positive attitude towards methodological and interdisciplinary research, and willingness to learn from different fields, including transportation, human-computer interaction, and urban planning. Good communication and writing skills in English. Experience in serious game development or prior research related to XR or urban mobility are considered advantages.

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 Promovendus 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%.

For more information about this vacancy, please contact Dr. Yan Feng. Application procedure: Are you interested in this vacancy? Please apply no later than 12 October 2025 via the application button. Please include in your application: A motivation letter (max. 1 page) covering your research interest and relevant experience in relation to the position; CV (1-2 page); One-page summary of your MSc thesis; Transcripts of academic qualifications (BSc and MSc) including list of courses and marks; A writing sample, such as a chapter from your Master’s Thesis or a (forthcoming or published) article or presented conference paper; Names and contact information of at least two references.