Aims of the research group

The interdisciplinary research group on Transportation consists of psychologists and engineers. The aim of the group is to develop knowledge that can be used to develop a safe, secure and sustainable future transport system. The group mainly focuses on surface transport, and has expertise in all three major surface transport modalities including public transport, active transport and car use.

Background

Transport is currently the main source of greenhouse gas emissions in Norway and this challenge has increased substantially the last decades. Road traffic contributes to more than 50% of these emissions. Aligned with these issues, members of the research group have conducted research using psychological models that predict choice of sustainable surface modes, such as metro, buses, electric cars, walking and bicycling. Several of these projects have been conducted within the framework of the Norwegian Research Council’s RISIT and TRANSIKK programmes.

Lines of research and contributions

We have further brought established psychological theories into new contexts and tested their validity in several countries in the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa as well as several countries in Asia, where the challenges related to transport emissions are likely to grow in the near future. This research had a broad scope and has examined risk-taking behavior specifically within the road traffic sector, but also focused on sustainable mode use on repeated trips, such as children’s school travels. This line of research has also focused on the adoption of emerging e-mobility, such as electric bicycling.

The group has considerable experience in conducting large-scale cross-cultural transport surveys. We also have substantial international expertise in predictors of use of emerging transport technologies, such as electric and hybrid cars, use of electric bikes, and hydrogen fuel based cars. The group contributes to examine theories and concepts underlying behavioral change in transport and tests the reliability and validity of the findings in other countries and contexts. These findings are useful in developing more effective transport strategies aimed at developing safer and more sustainable transportation systems. The group gives high priority to publish their results in international peer-reviewed journals and at international research conferences. This is reflected by an impressive productivity and high ISI citation rates among members the last 10 years.