Research Fellow in Urban Planning, Spatial Data Analysis, Transportation, Aviation

Research Fellow Position

SGP Aviation Research 

The Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) was established in 2009 in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), to advance knowledge and nurture technically-grounded leaders and innovators to serve societal needs. SUTD has set aside a multimillion-dollar budget to spearhead our new phase of growth in three key economic sectors (Aviation, Cities, and Healthcare) supported by capabilities in Artificial Intelligence/Data Science. We will work with industry to develop a suite of integrated, multidisciplinary research & education programs for the future economy under the SUTD Growth Plan (SGP). For further information about SUTD/SGP, please visit our website (https://sutd.edu.sg/About-Us).

The Urban Planning & Policy Research Team at SUTD is seeking for researchers and doctoral students to participate in our “data-driven & evidence-based” research projects relating to: aviation; transportation & communication technology; land use policy; real estate market; local economic development; and urban infrastructure finance.

Project Overview

The Team starts working on one of the main strategic thrusts in a university wide interdepartmental excellence cluster between the aviation and urban sectors.  The specific research, titled “The Growth of Hub Airports as Employment Centers,” investigates the interlinkages between airport investment, employment creation/relocation, behavioral adaptation, and housing provision/stratification in the dynamics of urban systems.  The scope of this research is outlined by the following four objectives:

• Describing the growth (or shrink*) of hub airports with special attention to the spatial distribution of airport-related employment in selected cities;
• Analyzing changes in the commuting patterns and housing preferences of airport employees; 
• Assessing the effectiveness of transportation–land use integration in accessibility and affordability improvements for airport employees; &
• Drawing planning and policy implications for cities to manage the growth (or shrink*) of hub airports as employment centers on a sustainable pathway.

*Note that this newly launched project would try to take into accounts the influences of COVID-19 on aviation-related industries to some extent and address critical policy challenges, drastic market changes, and emerging technological solutions based on empirical findings and possible scenarios for the sustainability of airport-centric development in the coming years.

Job Description

One Research Fellow will be hired to undertake the following research activities:

• Meeting with the principal investigator (PI) and team members regularly;
• Managing the progress of key tasks;
• Integrating spatial, behavioral, and transactional datasets collected by research assistants
• Visualizing multiple urban/aviation attributes on a geographic information system (GIS) platform in an interactive way &
• Developing travel behavior, location choice, and economic impact/real estate performance models
• Supervising doctoral students and research assistants in the multidisciplinary & multinational team;
• Exploring new software and spatial data visualization/analysis techniques; &
• Disseminating new research findings in peer-review journals/conferences.

This full-time researcher position will be based at the Urban Planning & Policy Research Team, led by PI Prof. Jin Murakami, with support from the Aviation Studies Institute (ASI) and Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS) Cluster on the new campus of SUTD near Changi Airport in Singapore.  As part of the research management and extensive collaboration, the Research Fellow is anticipated to work with an integrated team of faculty, full-time researchers, doctoral students, and part-time assistants and to communicate with industrial partners from development and aviation agencies.

The appointment is for 1 to 3 years, depending on candidate (*extendable, based on annual performance). SUTD offers a competitive salary that commensurate with experience, and benefits.

Requirements

• Ph.D. in Urban Planning, Transportation, Economics, Civil Engineering, Systems Engineering, Computer Science, or related fields
• Proficiency in statistics package and GIS software
• Experience in modeling (e.g., travel behavior and location choice models), spatial data analysis, and/or visualization - preferred
• Familiarity with household survey-type data handling - preferred
• Knowledge of programming (e.g., R, Python, CSS, and/or JavaScript) - optional
• Experience in writing peer-review journal publications (or motivated to do so)
• Independent and self-motivated, yet able to work in multidisciplinary & multinational research environments.

To Apply

Interested applicants should email: (1) a cover letter expressing specific interest in this

position; (2) a detailed CV with information on (i) education qualifications, (ii) working

experience, (iii) list of publications, (iv) name/title/contact of two references, and (v) citizenship status; and (3) writing sample to Dr. Jin Murakami at jin_murakami@sutd.edu.sg. Subject should read: Research Fellow – SGP Aviation Research

We regret that only shortlisted candidates will be notified.

Advertised: On 29 December 2020, Singapore Standard Time