Best new researcher
PhD researcher Mohsen Nazemi has been awarded the “Best New Researcher” by the International Cycling Safety Conference steering committee for his research on applying virtual reality in cycling research.
Mohsen Nazemi PhD researcher in the Engaging Mobility team at the Future Cities Laboratory was awarded Best New Researcher by the International Cycling Safety Conference steering committee. He received the award at the 8th International Cycling Safety Conference, which took place in Brisbane, Australia, during 18 to 20 November 2019.
His research focuses on cyclists’ perception of safety, whereby he uses virtual reality, complemented with physiological sensors to study cyclists’ behaviour and preferences for different infrastructure types under various traffic conditions in a virtual environment.
The outcome of this research will identify the key attributes that affect cyclists’ perception of safety and provides evidence-based design guidelines for planners.These insights could inform planning and development of cycling infastructure to increase the perceived safety of cycling as a transport mode and encourage more people to switch to this more sustainable way to travel.
Furthermore, his research includes an investigation of the efficacy of virtual reality as a method for assessing perceptual behaviour in similar experiments. This new approach can help to foster the integration of virtual reality along with sensor technology into classic travel survey methodologies and further in transportation planning.