University of Kassel fills cycling professorship with traffic psychologist Angela Francke

"Hesse is increasingly becoming a scientific pacemaker in the improvement of cycling in Germany. Now the third of the endowed professorships that we were able to bring to Hesse from the federal government's program has also been filled. It is remarkable that three of the seven endowed professorships nationwide have gone to Hesse. This is also a confirmation of the basic attitude of Hesse's mobility policy: we see walking and cycling as an integral part of a modern mobility system and want to expand it as much as possible. To do this, we need scientific expertise," explained Hessian Science Minister Angela Dorn and Hessian Transport Minister Tarek Al-Wazir in a joint statement.

University President Prof. Dr. Ute Clement described the professorship and Francke's appointment as a "perfectly fitting piece of the puzzle": "Sustainability research has always had a high profile at the University of Kassel, including research into environmentally friendly forms of mobility in particular. We are currently expanding this focus on sustainability significantly and are thus also creating new courses of study for young people who want to help shape a world worth living in in the long term. Ms. Francke's research and teaching, which combines engineering and psychological approaches and also incorporates methods from computer science, for example, fit in wonderfully."

Angela Francke received her doctorate from the Chair of Traffic Psychology at TU Dresden with a thesis on differentiated pricing systems in urban traffic to promote environmentally friendly mobility behavior. For many years, she has been researching sustainable mobility with a focus on cycling and cyclists and their needs. In March 2021, she initially took up a professorship at Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences before moving to Kassel. Her research focuses on active mobility and infrastructure, intermodal connections, road safety and empirical data analysis of mobility behavior. She brings with her experience of working with the global South and a view of international cycling solutions.

"In my research, I am not only interested in cycling, but also in the interaction between all modes of transport and road users," explains Francke. "From the findings, those shaping the transport transition can also deduce how the transformation of mobility towards greater sustainability can succeed in the coming years. I would like to accompany and help shape this transformation scientifically, in cooperation with various partners from administration, politics and companies."

In Kassel, she is working in a "particularly exciting field of research", says Prof. Dr.-Ing. He is head of the "Transport Planning and Transport Systems" department and played a leading role in acquiring funding for this professorship from the Federal Ministry of Transport. "Kassel is strongly characterized by the model of a car-friendly city of the post-war period. The conversion to a people-friendly city can serve as an example for other German cities."

Students at the University of Kassel will benefit from the new professorship both in existing degree programs and in the new Master's degree in "Mobility, Transport and Infrastructure". From the winter semester 2021/2022, this Master's will combine content from the engineering sciences with computer science, mathematics, law, economics and social sciences.

The federal government is funding the professorship as an endowed professorship with 1.4 million euros for five years. The professorship will subsequently be financed from the university's own funds. As part of the "National Cycling Plan 2020", the Federal Ministry of Transport created the opportunity for universities and colleges in Germany to apply for an endowed professorship in April 2019.

Press contact:

Sebastian Mense
University of Kassel
Communications, Press and Public Relations
Phone: +49 561 804-1961
Email: presse[at]uni-kassel[dot]de