“Sustainable SMART Travel Promotion: the relationship between hard and soft measures in developing proposals for promoting sustainable transport in Surrey”

The University of Surrey hosts a prestigious EPSRC-funded Industrial Doctorate Centre offering an EngD in Sustainability for Engineering and Energy Systems (SEES). The SEES EngD is a four-year doctorate for researchers who aspire to key leadership positions in industry. The programme is academically equivalent to a PhD, but has one major difference; the student (or ‘Research Engineer’) spends the majority of their time based with a sponsor organisation, working on their operational research priorities. They return to the University for short courses, conferences and seminars designed to develop specialist technical knowledge and exceptional business skills.

An EngD studentship is available with Surrey County Council in Kingston-upon-Thames. Surrey County Council is the local authority for the county of Surrey in south-east England, providing a range of public services to residents, businesses and visitors. Surrey County Council has recently been awarded funding from the Department for Transport for the Surrey Travel SMART Programme, which promotes sustainable travel through combined infrastructure investments and ‘soft measures’ aimed at behaviour change.

This project aims to develop an understanding of the benefits provided by the inclusion of softer, behaviour change measures in a programme of new sustainable transport infrastructure in Surrey. It will involve designing and implementing robust measures to monitor and evaluate elements of the Travel SMART programme and consider the link between soft measures promotion and greater use of sustainable transport.

Objectives of the Project include:

• Assessment of softer measures in terms of value for money when included in infrastructure improvement schemes and the likelihood of their success as a result of them;
• Development of a methodology for forecasting the soft measures benefit on future transport infrastructure improvements in the UK.

The Research Engineer will be based in Kingston-upon-Thames and should ideally be available to begin work on the project from the end of September 2013.

Person Specification
This role would suit an Engineer / Scientist with a varied skill-set to address the project aims. The successful candidate will hold a good bachelor’s degree (first or upper-second-class) and ideally an MSc or MEng in a relevant field. You will also have a strong interest (and/or experience) in multidisciplinary research covering both engineering and social science insights in relation to transportation issues. Areas of particular interest include, but are not limited to, the following: Transport Engineering, Econometrics, Applied Mathematics, Statistics, Transport planning and geography. The project will involve communication with a variety of stakeholders from public and private sectors so excellent inter-personal and presentation skills are essential, as well as the ability to work across a range of academic and professional disciplines within a complex organisational structure. In addition, you will demonstrate strong analytical skills and confidence with quantitative data, including statistical modelling and simulation modelling.

Funding Details
The current stipends for EngD studentships are £19,900 per annum (normally tax-free). To be eligible for funding, applicants must demonstrate a relevant connection with the UK (see www.epsrc.ac.uk/PostgraduateTraining/StudentEligibility.htm). Please confirm in your covering letter that you are eligible for the EPSRC funding.

Closing date: 5pm on Tuesday 10^th September 2013 (Interviews are expected to take place on Friday 20^th September 2013)

To apply: please visit the ‘Available Projects’ section of our website via the Apply button below. For further information, please contact engd@surrey.ac.uk or 01483 68 4036.