Duration of Studentship: 3.5 years
Stipend: £18,000 p.a.

Closing Date: 20 Jul 2010
Studentship Start Date: September / October 2010

Vacancy Information
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Applications are invited for a three and a half year (subject to satisfactory progress) EPSRC Industrial CASE PhD Studentship with Legion Ltd in Pedestrian Route-Choice Behaviour Modelling under Varying Traffic Conditions, starting  September 2010. The studentship also provides payment of tuition fees at the UK/EU rate.

Applications can be made by sending:

- A letter of application; and

- A full CV (including referees); and

- Up to 2 samples of your work.

to Sonja Curtis, CASA, UCL, 1-19 Torrington Place, London WC1E 7HB.
Shortlisted candidates will be required to complete a graduate student application form.


Studentship Description
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The proposed research will focus on the behavioural assumptions and computational implications of alternative traffic assignment approaches. Based on findings and their extensibility to pedestrians, solutions will be developed to considerably expand the simulation capabilities of micro-navigation pedestrian simulations. The scope of the application of route-assignment will also be studied in light of the particular behavioural characteristics of pedestrians.

Innovative pedestrian-specific approaches to route-choice behaviour and route-assignment will be researched. The original elements of the methods will be related to two of the most challenging aspects of pedestrian route-choice modelling; i.e. the calculation and updating process of the dynamic elements of pedestrian route-costs,  where attention will be given to agent-based pedestrian microsimulation, and dynamic route-assignment, where research will focus on route-choices based on feedback of experienced costs and system-wide self-learning.

The developed approaches will facilitate the integration of micro-navigation movement simulation with macroscopic route-choice behaviour modelling in real time. The advantages of such approaches are considerable as they are expected to be able to handle the dynamics of pedestrian systems under varying traffic conditions and to capture the effect of microscopic behaviour on macroscopic route-choice behaviour.

It is proposed that the PhD student will spend two days a week in Legion and 3 in CASA. Further information can be found at the link below.


Person Specification
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---- Essential Criteria:

    - A postgraduate qualification in a scientifically literate area such as engineering, applied mathematics, physics, and / or computer science

    - Knowledge and/or programming experience in any of the following programming languages: C#, C++, Java

    - Good written and verbal communication skills and the ability to work productively as part of a team and to produce high-quality reports and publications.

    - A willingness to explore new areas of application and to contribute on the development of research related to pedestrian movement modelling

A willingness to conduct research in the field of transport modelling

---- Desirable Criteria:

    - A postgraduate qualification and/or experience in transport planning, transport engineering or network theory

    - Knowledge and/or programming experience in C++

    - Knowledge and/or experience in GIS or CAD applications

    - Knowledge and/or experience in planning algorithms and optimization methods

    - Knowledge and/or experience in discrete choice modelling

    - The ability to produce and deliver presentations with ease and speed.



Eligibility - Residence Requirements (a summary)
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To be eligible for a full award (stipend and fees) a student must have:

- Settled status in the UK, meaning they have no restrictions on how long they can stay and

- Been ‘ordinarily resident’ in the UK for 3 years prior to the start of the grant. This means they must have been normally residing in the UK (apart from temporary or occasional absences) and

- Not been residing in the UK wholly or mainly for the purpose of full-time education. (This does not apply to UK or EU nationals)

To be eligible for a fees only award (not the stipend):
All EU nationals are eligible to receive a fees only award if they do not have settled status in the UK

Note: These eligibility criteria are based on the Education (Fees and Awards) Regulations 1997 and subsequent amendments, covering England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.


Further details
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For more details please follow the link:

Closing Date: 20 Jul 2010
Studentship Start Date: September / October 2010