Coventry University and Motability launch innovative research studentship in accessible transport

Coventry University has collaborated with national disability charity Motability to recruit and sponsor a number of doctoral candidates to undertake research into accessible transport at the university’s National Transport Design Centre (NTDC).

The collaboration combines Coventry University’s strong tradition of design transport teaching and Motability’s objective to support and develop innovative solutions to meet the evolving transportation needs of people with disabilities.

Successful candidates will conduct significant and original research at the university’s world class facilities in the design of vehicles and associated infrastructures, including emerging technologies and future transport solutions that are still waiting to be defined.

Research has shown poor transport design to cause reduced economic opportunities, social exclusion, a reduced quality of life, and other negative impacts for disabled people, who often lack a voice in key planning and decision making processes.

The fully funded studentships aim to address this lack of voice by giving disabled people, and those who have direct and frequent interactions with them, the opportunity to train in the specialised area of transport design accessibility research, so they can in future bring both technical knowledge coupled with a lived experience to future transport policy and practice.

The doctoral candidates will be supervised by Professor Paul Herriotts and Professor Stewart Birrell from the NTDC, which sits in the university’s Institute for Future Transport and Cities.

To find out more, visit the Coventry University website.