This fully funded PhD studentship is part of a strategic partnership between Strathclyde Business School and Technische Universität Braunschweig, bringing together expertise to tackle global sustainability challenges. As part of a collaborative doctoral programme, the successful candidate will work alongside PhD researchers at both institutions to investigate how behavioural interventions drive sustainable transformation in mobility systems across Scotland and Lower Saxony. With transportation remaining a major contributor to global carbon emissions, this project aims to develop a theoretical framework to understand how stakeholders respond to sustainable mobility initiatives and identify key drivers of behavioural change.

Through a comparative empirical study, the research will span operational and consumer perspectives, collecting data from both Scotland and Lower Saxony to explore disparities and conduct a comparative analysis. The project will address the following key research questions:

• How do transport providers (public sector, private sector, and/or partnerships) in cities within Scotland and Lower Saxony respond to competing pressures for sustainable mobility?
• How effective are sustainable transport interventions in driving behavioural change?
• What actionable policy and managerial recommendations can guide transitions towards sustainable mobility across different institutional structures?

By contributing theoretical insights on behavioural interventions and sustainability transitions, the project will generate practical recommendations to inform transport providers and policymakers. This is an exciting opportunity to engage in impactful research within an international, interdisciplinary environment, helping shape the future of sustainable transport.

Further information

The project will be based at the University of Strathclyde, but with the intention to spend a period of study at Technische Universität Braunschweig, ensuring cross-cultural learning, knowledge exchange, and exposure to different institutional systems. This enhances the international comparative aspects of the research and ensures a multi-level interdisciplinary approach to sustainable mobility research benefitting from qualitative and quantitative insights.

Additionally, the successful student will benefit from opportunity to engage with the University of Strathclyde’s Stephen Young Institute for International Business and its Centre for Doctoral Training in Partnerships for Sustainable Innovation.