Future Mobility Centre: School of Computing and Engineering

Prof Alexandros Nikitas from Huddersfield Business School used his International Collaborative Fund (ICF) to support an ambitious international collaboration and global academic forum on future mobility, sustainable transport, travel behaviour change and AI-based transitions. The Future Mobility Centre (promoted from its Lab status on March 2024) works closely with world-leading academics including teams in Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, (QS rank: 139) and the National Technical University of Athens (QS rank: 321) – both have given Prof Nikitas a Visiting Professorship.

The Project

The Future Mobility Centre at the University of Huddersfield focuses on developing innovative solutions to decarbonise transport. It integrates cutting-edge research on sustainable urban mobility, aiming to reduce carbon emissions and improve transport efficiency. 

The Centre works on various projects, including topics on Mobility Hubs and Mobility-as-a-Service, Electromobility, Autonomous Vehicles, Active Travel and Inclusive Transport Policy to support sustainable transport systems. Through collaboration with industry and academia, it aims to create impactful, real-world applications for a greener and healthier future.

The Centre has stimulated the production of several high-quality articles with top-tier academics and successfully secured funding for research and innovation alongside other partners in an increasingly competitive arena. It has also exposed some of Huddersfield Business School's early career researchers to exemplar research-driven environments and top academic partnerships. 

Partner Institutions

• Chalmers University of Technology, Dr Pontus Wallgren (Sweden)
• National Technical University of Athens, Dr Efthimios Bakogiannis (Greece)
• Peking University, Prof. Pengjun Zhao (China)
• Trinity College Dublin, Prof. Brian Caulfield (Ireland)
• European Commission Joint Research Centre Seville, Dr Panayiotis Christidis (Spain)

International Partnerships

In late 2022, Prof Nikitas was appointed Visiting Professor at the Division of Design & Human Factors, Department of Industrial and Materials Science, at Chalmers University of Technology. 

A globally top 2% researcher for 2020 and 2021 (Stanford/Elsevier), Prof Nikitas was invited by the Division Leader, Prof MariAnne Karlsson, for a fully sponsored four-week stay at Chalmers' Johannesburg campus to engage in collaborative research initiatives.

The Design & Human Factors Division, renowned for its expertise in human-technology interaction and user-centred innovation since the mid-1970s, has a strong focus on Sustainable Urban Mobility - a key alignment with Prof Nikitas' research. Hosted by Dr. Pontus Wallgren and Dr. Oskar Rexfelt, he participated in ongoing research with the Sustainable Urban Mobility team. Chalmers University of Technology viewed this visit as a significant step towards fostering long-term collaboration with the University of Huddersfield. 

The National Technical University of Athens, appointed Prof. Nikitas in June 2024 to a Visiting Professorship in its School of Rural, Surveying and Geoinformatics Engineering. This is one of the only 14 prestigious Government Endowed Visiting Professorships approved by the Greek Government for its country-wide Visting Professors programme. The research work that Prof Nikitas will lead is on Transport Accessibility for Vulnerable Populations. This adds to a collaboration (NTUA lead: Dr Efthimios Bakogiannis) that has already yielded 12 REFable papers and several research project proposals. ICF funded Prof Nikitas and Dr Kalliopi Michalakopoulou’s research visit in Athens in October 2023.

Also, in February 2023 the team spent a week, supported by the ICF initiative, with the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Seville, Spain, hosted by Dr Panayotis Christidis, a Senior Researcher at the Joint Research Centre in Unit C6 - Economics of Climate Change, Energy and Transport and his team. Areas of joint interest discussed referred to Mobility Hubs, E-scooters, Mobility-as-a-Service; Active Travel; 15-minute Cities; Teleworking and its Traffic Impacts; Aviation in the Global South.

The ICF scheme is a remarkable internationalisation programme that critically supports our ambition to form and maintain research collaborations with top-tier Universities and Research Institutions across the world.

Professor Alexandros Nikita, Huddersfield Business School

About the Researchers

Professor Alexandros Nikitas is a Professor in Sustainable Transport Futures for Huddersfield Business School at the University of Huddersfield. He is the Founding Director of the Future Mobility Centre and Chair of the Universities Transport Study Group the leading transport research forum in the UK and Ireland. 

Find out more about Professor Alexandros Nikitas.

Sustainability Development Goals related to this project