The University of Kassel is a young university and has its finger on the pulse of the time. Openness, initiative and practical relevance are promoted. This applies to studies, research and teaching as well as to business start-ups originating at the university. With its focus on nature, technology, culture and society, the university has an unusual profile. In the 2021/2022 winter semester, the university had around 25,000 students and 3,300 staff members, including around 340 professors from 11 faculties.
Internationalisation matters to the university’s profile and is a strategic objective. With its around 460 collaborative partnerships with foreign partners, the University of Kassel is globally connected. The university focuses on the following research topics: environment, climate and energy, sustainable transport, urban and regional research, socially acceptable information technology, simulation of technical systems and vehicle system technology, material and production technology, nanostructure sciences, education, global social policy, development policy and decent work as well as culture and gender research.

Cycling and Local Mobility chair

Content and main research focus

Since October 2021, Prof. Angela Francke has been the Cycling and Local Mobility chair. For more than 10 years, she has been researching and teaching in the field of transport science with a focus on the users and true-cost pricing and, in particular, on cycling and sustainable (local) mobility. She represents cycling and pedestrian traffic as well as micro-mobility in research and teaching. The chair (W3 pay group) is part of the Institute for Transport Studies in the Civil Engineering and Environmental Engineering Faculty.

Research is mainly focused on:

• Planning and design of cycling and pedestrian facilities (incl. facilities for interconnections with public transport);
• Road safety for cyclists and pedestrians (incl. electric bikes and personal light electric vehicles);
• Planning and promotion of active mobility and local mobility;
• Traffic trends, transport innovation and road safety, also with a focus on countries in transition and developing countries;
• Empirical data analysis of mobility behaviour;
• Traffic psychology and human factors;
• True-cost pricing in transport; and
• Inclusive transportation planning.

At the Mobility Lab, which is currently being set up, research is focused on how measures in cycling and pedestrian traffic, micromobility and intermodal links affect the experience and behaviour of road users. For this purpose, technical equipment is linked with traffic psychology principles and transport planning measures. The bicycle itself, the cyclists as well as the interaction with infrastructure and the societal framework are considered in this context. Data from standardized situations as well as real-world data is collected and analysed using, for example, VR scenarios in a cycling simulator or an extensive range of bicycle sensors.

Teaching

The chair is involved in teaching programmes for bachelor’s and master’s degree courses in Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering and Urban Planning.

Moreover, there has been a new master’s degree course in Mobility, Transport and Infrastructure with a focus on Cycling and Local Mobility since October 2021. The new degree course is characterized by the following aspects:

• Non-consecutive and interdisciplinary master’s course covering three semesters at the Civil Engineering and Environmental Engineering Faculty with a total of 90 credits
• Degree awarded: Master of Science
• Entry requirements: a scientific first degree course without any particular study focus, proof of basic mathematical, mechanical and transport science knowledge that can also be caught up on during the course
• Around 25 new students per year

The course contents are interdisciplinary and include extensive in-depth knowledge in transport sciences, with a focus on integrated transport planning, transport technology, public transport, highway geometric design and design of the road environment, transport infrastructure as well as cycling and local mobility (36 credits). This is complemented by the following subjects:

• Specializations in mathematics and informatics (12 credits)
• Transport law (6 credits)
• Economics (6 credits)
• Key qualifications (6 credits).

Networks and collaborative ventures

The chair is integrated into numerous networks and scientific centres. For the University of Kassel, these include the following:

• Kassel Institute for Sustainability (KIS)
• Environment network
• Research Center for Information System Design (ITeG)
• Graduate Center for Environmental Research and Education (GradZ)
• Efficient Mobility Working Group

The chair is also integrated into non-university networks, including the following:

• North Hessian Network of the Mobility Economy – MoWin.net
• House of Logistics and Mobility (HOLM) Development and Competence Centre
• Hesse Local Mobility Working Group (ADNH)
• Road and Transport Research Association (FGSV)
• German Transport Research Association (DVWG).

Point of contact

Prof. Angela Francke
Angela.francke@uni-kassel.de
www.uni-kassel.de/go/radverkehr

Technical University of Applied Sciences Wildau

With around 3,700 students, the Technical University of Applied Sciences Wildau is the largest university of applied sciences of the federal state of Brandenburg and is located in the direct vicinity of the federal capital of Berlin. Around 18% of the students come from abroad. Around 100 professors and 350 staff members are responsible for research and teaching in currently 30 bachelor’s and master’s degree courses.

The Transport, Mobility and Logistics field of research is one of the strategic development fields at the Technical University of Applied Sciences Wildau. Approximately 20 competent scholars are already contributing to this field of research, which is being further expanded, in different degree courses with a focus on traffic and transport.

With the Endowed Chair of Cycling in Intermodal Transport Networks, TH Wildau is further developing its scientific profile in the field of sustainable mobility in a structural and future-oriented manner.

Cycling in Intermodal Transport Networks chair

As an element of ecomobility, cycling, together with local public transport and pedestrian traffic, has more than ever the potential to contribute significantly to the transformation of the transport system. With this chair, TH Wildau is contributing actively to the implementation of the National Cycling Plan and is addressing this potential in particular with regard to the connection of cycling with other modes of transport. The endowed chair pursues a generalist approach with an emphasis on planning and strategies. The master’s degree course on Cycling in Intermodal Transport Networks imparts skills in transport planning, (information) technology and communications. In research and teaching, intermodal solutions are developed that make cycling more attractive in the context of all modes of transport and thus lead to an increasing modal share of ecomobility.

Cycling in Intermodal Transport Networks degree course

The master’s degree course entitled Cycling in Intermodal Transport Networks is planned to be a consecutive, three-semester degree course that is worth 90 ECTS credit points. It is part of the Engineering and Natural Sciences department.

Students can take this consecutive master’s degree course after having obtained a bachelor's degree in engineering, social sciences or economics related to transport and mobility. It thus provides students from different disciplinary backgrounds with the opportunity to take this interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary course focusing on cycling.

The master’s degree course includes a high proportion of projects, which aims at turning the state of research taught in the degree course into practicable strategies for intermodal problems and developing those strategies. The focus is on the promotion of methodological competencies, with disciplinary depth in the following subject areas:

• Drafting of transport and mobility strategies (with a focus on cycling)
• Development of business models for the operation cycling facilities
• Application of tools for the digitalization of intermodal connections between cycling and other modes of transport
• Application of the latest technologies for cycling logistics and the transport of bicycles
• Preparation of communication strategies for public relations and involvement of citizens in traffic and mobility planning
• Communication of legal provisions and administrative processes in the context of cycling
• Deepening of scientific working skills and learning of presentation techniques
• Preparation of funding applications

Planned collaborative ventures and additional activities

The Technical University of Applied Sciences Wildau is an active partner in various networks, clusters and community projects. In transport matters, it cooperates with relevant players and operators at a regional, federal and international level. The endowed chair offers new developing its scientific profile in the field of sustainable mobility in a structural and future-oriented manner.

Cycling in Intermodal Transport Networks chair

As an element of ecomobility, cycling, together with local public transport and pedestrian traffic, has more than ever the potential to contribute significantly to the transformation of the transport system. With this chair, TH Wildau is contributing actively to the implementation of the National Cycling Plan and is addressing this potential in particular with regard to the connection of cycling with other modes of transport. The endowed chair pursues a generalist approach with an emphasis on planning and strategies. The master’s degree course on Cycling in Intermodal Transport Networks imparts skills in transport planning, (information) technology and communications. In research and teaching, intermodal solutions are developed that make cycling more attractive in the context of all modes of transport and thus lead to an increasing modal share of ecomobility.

Cycling in Intermodal Transport Networks degree course

The master’s degree course entitled Cycling in Intermodal Transport Networks is planned to be a consecutive, three-semester degree course that is worth 90 ECTS credit points. It is part of the Engineering and Natural Sciences department.

Students can take this consecutive master’s degree course after having obtained a bachelor's degree in engineering, social sciences or economics related to transport and mobility. It thus provides students from different disciplinary backgrounds with the opportunity to take this interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary course focusing on cycling.

The master’s degree course includes a high proportion of projects, which aims at turning the state of research taught in the degree course into practicable strategies for intermodal problems and developing those strategies. The focus is on the promotion of methodological competencies, with disciplinary depth in the following subject areas:

• Drafting of transport and mobility strategies (with a focus on cycling)
• Development of business models for the operation cycling facilities
• Application of tools for the digitalization of intermodal connections between cycling and other modes of transport
• Application of the latest technologies for cycling logistics and the transport of bicycles
• Preparation of communication strategies for public relations and involvement of citizens in traffic and mobility planning
• Communication of legal provisions and administrative processes in the context of cycling
• Deepening of scientific working skills and learning of presentation techniques
• Preparation of funding applications

Planned collaborative ventures and additional activities

The Technical University of Applied Sciences Wildau is an active partner in various networks, clusters and community projects. In transport matters, it cooperates with relevant players and operators at a regional, federal and international level. The endowed chair offers new potentials to intensify cooperation schemes. These include universities from the Berlin-Brandenburg capital region, the Institutes of Transport Research (DLR) in Berlin-Adlershof, stakeholder associations such as the German Transport Club (VCD), the German Cyclists’ Association (ADFC) and the Brandenburg association of cycle- and pedestrian-friendly communities (AGFK). Plans include holding lecture series and seminars, some of them also at the regional offices of the universities of the Berlin-Brandenburg capital region. The chair will hold an annual scientific symposium with supra-regional effects on current issues of cycling, especially with regard to the intermodal connection to other modes of transport. In particular, graduates and current students will be involved in this symposium. Moreover, the seven endowed chairs have established a joint working group on cycling where professors and their employees engage in a regular intensive technical and scientific exchange of ideas and experience. In addition, a seminar is offered to all doctoral students of the endowed chairs.

More than 70 courses on offer at two locations and an international network – this is RheinMain University of Applied Sciences. Around 13,500 students are enrolled at the faculties of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Design – Computer Science – Media and Applied Social Sciences as well as at the Wiesbaden School of Business and the Faculty of Engineering in Rüsselsheim/Main. Apart from field-oriented teaching, RheinMain University of Applied Sciences is renowned for its application-driven research.

Chair of Cycling_Design

The thematic key areas of the chair are planning and design of traffic facilities and road safety, and it is directly integrated into the expert group on mobility management (FG MM) at the HSRM. It thus supports the strategy of creating a profile-building focus in the field of sustainable mobility at the Faculty of Architecture and Civil Engineering and at the HSRM. The focus of the chair is on three fields of activity:

1. Embed the design of traffic facilities, in particular for pedestrians and cyclists, in undergraduate degree courses
2. Provide in-depth teaching of pedestrian and cycling issues in graduate degree courses as well as in continuing education and advanced training for the skills development of (future) cycling specialists
3. Conduct applied research on cycling together with further partners and disciplines

The professorship (W2 pay group) is supported by scientific assistants (1.5 postgraduate positions) as well as one administrative assistant (half-time position). All positions are currently filled and the cycling team is thus complete.

Integration into the teaching strategy

In the winter semester of 2022/23, a collaborative regional master’s degree course in Sustainable Mobility was initiated together with Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences and Technical University of Central Hesse.

• The initial accreditation for the new master’s degree course in Sustainable Mobility has been granted:

  • Regional and cooperative approach
  • Consecutive three-semester (90 CP) master’s degree course for about 30 students from bachelor’s degree courses in spatial and planning sciences or civil engineering with a focus on traffic and transport
  • The objective of the Sustainable Mobility master’s degree course is the Master of Engineering (M.Eng.) additional qualification in the fields of transport planning, design and operation of transport facilities, especially in connection with ecomobility, and their interconnections, mobility management as well as handling of innovative business models in the transport and mobility sectors, i.e. functions that are vital for sustainable mobility and transport.
  • Already since the winter semester 2020/21, cycling-specific block courses have been held in existing (bachelor’s and master’s) degree courses.

Research and collaborative ventures

The focus is on structural measures in the field of the transfer of practical experience. At RheinMain University of Applied Sciences, there are several approaches in order to create sustainable structures in the cycling sector:

• The Hesse Local Mobility Working Group (ADNH)
• The IMPACT RheinMain project funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)
• The expert conference on cycle hire schemes, which has been established at national level as a transfer format on a permanent basis
• Project-related contacts with undertakings from the cycling industry as well as cities and municipalities from the RheinMain region

• The House of Logistics and Mobility (HOLM) in Frankfurt
  
  

  Current main research focus:

  • More equitable distribution of space and gender-appropriate planning and design of traffic facilities (e.g. doctoral project entitled ‘Bike sharing – a real and fair alternative’)
  • New cycling-specific design approaches (e.g. doctoral project on ‘Infrastructure requirements of the use of cargo bicycle logistics strategies for the last mile as an integral part of a resource-saving freight transport system’)
  • Innovative approaches for capturing and analysing the status of cycling infrastructure (collaborative venture with another endowed chair)
  • New planning approaches for the implementation of the transformation of the transport system (collaborative venture with another endowed chair)

Additional activities

• Doctoral project at the Logistics and Mobility PhD centre
• Moreover, it is planned to develop organizational structures in continuing education and training together with other universities of applied sciences and experienced practitioners. The target group are transport planners and engineers working on the design of cycling facilities in administration or planning offices.
• The Cycling chair (like the endowed chairs of OSTFALIA and Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences) belongs to the Sustainable Mobility field of study, which is a collaborative scheme of several universities of applied sciences. The objective of this field of study is to create a modern and practice-oriented academic education in the areas of mobility and transport.

Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences

Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences (UAS) offers practice-oriented degree courses of high scientific quality for currently around 15,000 students. The four faculties currently provide more than 70 degree courses. The application-driven research at Frankfurt UAS dovetails teaching and practice.
Research activities at the university are particularly focused on the following three priority areas of research: demographic change and diversity, digital transformation and information/communications technologies as well as mobility and logistics. Additionally, the university offers a comprehensive range of continuing training courses.

Sustainable Mobility and Cycling chair

The chair was filled by Prof. Dennis Knese on 1 January 2021. The endowed chair at Frankfurt UAS is integrated into the Research Lab for Urban Transport (ReLUT), which belongs to the Faculties of Architecture, Civil Engineering, Geomatics and Economics and Law. It represents cycling from a transport planning and economic perspective. While the topic had already been part of teaching and research before, Knese and the ReLUT staff have been able to further expand and intensify the activities. With its interdisciplinary approach, the ReLUT is addressing various issues concerning cycling, which is of particular importance for the transformation of the transport system. This concerns existing and new challenges in transport planning as well as the design of the road environment. Infrastructure plays an essential role for the intermodal connection of cycling to other modes of transport. In addition to everyday mobility, there is particularly great potential for cycling in the area of tourism and leisure traffic. Another dynamic field is cycling logistics, which could play a major role for the rapidly growing sector of commercial transport in the future. With 18 semester periods per week, Prof. Knese teaches various cycling-specific courses in existing bachelor’s and master’s degree programmes. Currently, four research assistants (half-time positions), scientific assistants as well as one administrative staff member (half-time position) support the chair.

Sustainable Mobility master’s degree course

The Sustainable Mobility master’s degree course in cooperation with Rhine-Main University of Applied Sciences, Technical University of Applied Sciences of Central Hesse and Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences will start in the winter semester of 2022/23 in the following manner:

• 3 semesters, consecutive full-time degree course, 90 ECTS
• Around 36 students per year, degree course can be started every winter semester.
• Prerequisites for the consecutive master’s degree course:
• Higher education degree qualifying the holder for entry into a civil engineering or environmental engineering profession or other disciplines related to spatial development or planning.

The master’s degree course is to teach skills that are relevant for the transformation of the transport system, focusing on environmentally friendly means of transport. The master’s degree course is marked by an interdisciplinary approach that teaches graduates not only the key elements of civil engineering, i.e. planning, design and operation skills for integrated transport systems, but also skills from the fields of social sciences, i.e. mobility patterns and transport policy, as well as economics, i.e. mobility and transport business models, in particular for cycling. In this way, graduates are prepared to develop integrated and implementation-oriented strategies for the promotion of sustainable transport, particularly of cycling, that relate to the behavioural rationalities of all those public and private actors who are involved in shaping mobility and transport. The syllabus includes, among other things: planning, design and operation of means of transport, transport policy, mobility patterns and cycling in transport planning, linking of transport means as well as cycling logistics.

According to current planning, the following two new bachelor’s degree courses, in which local mobility topics will be taught by the endowed chair, will also start at Frankfurt UAS at the same time: Urban Planning as well as Infrastructure and the Environment.

Planned collaborative ventures

• Collaborative ventures with TH Mittelhessen, HS RheinMain, HS Darmstadt
• Interconnection via the House of Logistics & Mobility (HOLM)

Additional activities

• In the framework of the endowed chair, Frankfurt UAS, probably together with other endowed chairs, will offer a continuing education programme on Sustainable Mobility. By taking this programme, CAS (Certificate of Advanced Studies) and DAS (Diploma of Advanced Studies) certificates can be obtained.
• Riese&Müller GmbH will fund a half-time position for a research assistant.

On 1 November 2020, Dr Jana Kühl was appointed as Germany’s first Cycling Management professor at Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences.

Prof. Kühl is a geographer specialized in social and cultural geography. She also studied sociology and public law at the University of Kiel. Prior to her appointment, she worked as research assistant at different organizations, such as the Cultural Geography working group at the Geographical Institute of University of Kiel, the department of Spatial Planning and Planning Theory of TU Dortmund and the Dortmund Institute for Regional and Urban Development (ILS). She worked for NAH.SH GmbH as Senior Expert for transport planning and new forms of mobility.

In addition to Professor Kühl, the Cycling Management team of Ostfalia includes the following members:

• Sandy Gisa M.A., responsible for topics from the fields of media and communications management
• Frederik Hipp B.A., responsible for topics from the fields of transport and sports management
• Jasmin Junghans B.A., responsible for topics from the field of transport planning (from 1 July 2022)
• Dr. Ing. Sonja Machledt-Michael, responsible for project management
• Wiebke Quander M.A., responsible for topics from the fields of tourism and urban and regional management

Why cycling management?

Mobility management is of crucial importance for the transformation of the transport system. Technological developments and infrastructure improvements alone are not sufficient to achieve the objective of ensuring mobility while reducing its environmental impact. Cycling management is a vital component of mobility management. The potential of cycling can only be harnessed using innovative, interdisciplinary as well as multimodal or intermodal approaches. This means acting at the planning level, but also at the societal and media-based level.

Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences
Main campus in Wolfenbüttel, chair at the Institute of Traffic Management in Salzgitter

The Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences

• 12,000 students at 12 faculties
• Four sites: Wolfenbüttel, Wolfsburg, Suderburg and Salzgitter
• More than 80 degree courses in the following thematic areas: law, economics, social and health services as well as technology and informatics

The K Faculty: Faculty of Transport-Sports-Tourism-Media at the Salzgitter campus

• 2,200 students in 14 undergraduate management degree courses
• 40 professors and numerous research assistants

The Institute of Traffic Management (IfVM) of the K Faculty at the Salzgitter campus

• Nine professors teach and research together

  In addition to the Endowed Chair of Cycling Management, IfVM was also able to establish a Digitalization Chair. Joint projects on the digitalization of cycling are being planned.

• Focus: practice-oriented transport and mobility research
• At the centre: sustainability as well as transfer of technology and knowledge

Endowed Chair of Cycling Management

Objectives of Ostfalia’s Endowed Chair of Cycling Management:

• Training of cycling specialists for the scientific, administrative and business community: from infrastructure planning through mobility management to cycling-friendly legislation
• Participation, among other things, at the Center for Social Innovation
• Participation in local/regional/national structures/networks/forms of dialogue on cycling
• Focus on cycling research: initiation, application, execution
• Dissemination of basic knowledge and research findings on cycling among interested members of the public and at meetings of experts and conferences

Integration of the chair into the curriculum

The Cycling Management chair is integrated into Ostfalia's curriculum via the following degree courses:
Bachelor’s degree courses: Mobility and Passenger Transport Management, Industrial Engineering in Mobility and Transport, Transport and Logistics Management, Urban and Regional Management, Tourism Management, Sports Management, Media Communications and Media Design; Master’s degree course: Transport and Logistics.

Collaborative ventures

The Cycling Management chair collaborates with numerous cycling stakeholders to develop practical teaching and research projects. This has resulted in several programmes and cooperation plans and projects:

• Lower Saxony ministries, e.g.:

  Ministry of Education

• Engineering consultancies, e.g.:

  WVI GmbH, plan & rat

• Cycling stakeholder groups:

  AGFK, ADFC, VCD, Dutch Cycling Embassy

• Municipalities and regional associations:
  Hanover region, Greater Brunswick regional association, Wolfenbüttel district, City of Salzgitter

• Police and prevention activities:

  Salzgitter Police, German Road Safety Council

• Schools:

  general and vocational schools in the region

• And not least: good cooperation with the other Endowed Chairs of Cycling:
• Angela Franke, University of Kassel,
• Heather Kaths, University of Wuppertal,
• Dennis Knese, Frankfurt UAS,
• Christian Rudolf, TH Wildau, of the Mobility Curriculum at schools in Lower Saxony
• Collaborative schemes with other institutions of higher education and universities on cycling issues
• Expert opinions in continuing education programmes

• Interdisciplinary and international dialogue events

  • Annual public lecture format Salzgitter Mobility Forum, which will also focus on cycling topics to begin in 2022 (6 May 2022 ‘More diversity for cycling’, registration here)
• Existing contacts with other higher education institutions (UK, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland)

• At the university, around 7,000 students study in six faculties: Architecture and Civil Engineering, Electronic Engineering and Information Technology, Informatics and Business Information Systems, Information Management and Media, Mechanical Engineering and Mechatronics, Economics.
• More than 200 professors are teaching in more than 40 degree courses.
• The university is cooperating with more than 180 partner universities in more than 50 countries.
• The priority areas of research entitled Innovative Mobility Concepts, Resources and Climate and Work and Production are quality-checked by the Research Map of the German Rectors’ Conference.

• HKA has eleven quality-assured and central research institutes. Three of them focus on mobility: the Institute for Transport Systems and Infrastructure (IVI), which the applicant professors are members of and which will host the future endowed chair, as well as the Institute of Energy Efficient Mobility (IEEM) and the Institute of Ubiquitous Mobility Systems (IUMS). The Baden-Württemberg Institute for Sustainable Mobility (BWIM) is also associated with HKA.

  
  

• Cycling chair

  • Cycling planning strategies including the following essential elements
  • Integration of cycling into the overall mobility and transport systems
  • Development of cycling plans and cycling networks
  • Promotion of cycling
  • Innovation in cycling
  • Integration and priority setting in the interdisciplinary Mobility and Transport priority area of research at the university with chairs, particularly in the following faculties:
  • Architecture and civil engineering (planning, construction and operation of transport infrastructure, urban planning)
  • Information management and media (mobility, human factors, ecology, digital transformation)
  • Mechanical engineering and mechatronics (automotive, vehicle technology, environmental technology).

• Cycling laboratory

  • Human – bicycle – infrastructure – digital transformation

    
    

• Collaborative ventures

  • Collaborative ventures with players from the administration, politics and society targeted at making cycling (more) safe, comfortable, efficient and ‘hip’.
  • Collaborative ventures with players from the industry targeted at turning the bicycle into an innovator.

  • Interconnection among players as well as with the chair and range of courses on offer to further develop the courses based on the needs of practitioners.
    

    
    

• Degree courses

• New: Mobility Management master’s degree course with a comprehensive independent cycling specialization. Modules: Cycling Mobility, Cycling Facilities and Cycling Safety, Cycling Specialisation project, among others.

  • Priority areas

    • Cycling planning, cycling infrastructure
    • Interdisciplinary projects
    • Open for graduates from many bachelor’s degree courses
    • Interdisciplinary and consecutive: Adding/deepening cycling knowledge to the acquired knowledge from previous bachelor’s degree course
    • Suitable degree courses: Engineering, social sciences, informatics, economics, media sciences
    • Skills: Planning and technology of cycling

  • Scope:

    • 90 ECTS – sum of previous bachelor’s and master’s degree course credits amounts to 300 ECTS (for graduates of bachelor’s degree course with 180 credits, there will be additional classes offered worth 30 credits)
    • 50 semester periods per week of lectures and laboratory classes, plus several project studies and final thesis
    • Planned start with 15 higher education places
    • Project-oriented
    • Degree course at the Faculty for Information Management and Media, Transport System Management field
    • Start: preparations for the introduction are underway. Faculty Council, Senate and University Senate are to deal with the process. Accreditation and implementation approval are planned for 2022.
      
      

• New: priority area ‘Cycling’ in the existing Transport System Management bachelor’s degree course

  
  

• New: continuing education programmes ‘Cycling’, resulting in an earn as you learn master’s degree course entitled Cycling

  • Coordination with collaborative venture partners (local authorities, corporate bodies, public transport operators, industry) for determining the specific need has been concluded
  • First certificate studies (courses) will start in the 2020 winter semester
  • The programme is to be expanded progressively so that certificate studies can be combined flexibly with the Cycling earn as you learn master’s degree courses.
    
    

• Additional activities

  • Continuing professional education in addition to the range of courses in different formats (courses of one or several days, seminars, lectures, etc.)
  • Continuing education for the public with events, actions, information for different target groups in different formats.
  • Study projects with schools (e.g. ‘Bike for future’, cycling events, alternatives to parents driving their children to school in their cars, cycling events for pupils, parents and teachers, etc.)
  • Study projects with collaborative venture partners
  • International activities in workshops (‘hands on sustainable mobility’), conferences for different target groups (young researchers, best practices, science), research and publications
  • Integration into the Sustainable Mobility field of study at different universities of applied sciences
  • Interconnection of the BMDV Endowed Chairs of Cycling

Bergische University of Wuppertal

• The university is research-oriented and has a large range of courses on offer.
• Teaching and research are marked by interdisciplinary approaches, innovative capacity and team spirit.
• The university has more than 23,000 students and around 3,600 staff members, including around 260 professors.
• More than 220 partner universities form part of its international network.
• Through active knowledge transfer and intensified collaboration with numerous partners in the industry, non-university research institutions and society, it is well established in the region.

Traffic and Transport Expert Centre at Bergische University of Wuppertal

• The expert centre currently has seven teaching and research areas that closely cooperate at a technical level and guide teaching and research projects. Three adjunct professors also form part of this centre.
• Shaping an integrated design of sustainable transport services is considered to be the challenge of future traffic and transport.

Endowed Chair of ‘Planning tools for the cycling of the future: simulation, real life test area, transformation’

• The chair of the W3 pay group is to be permanent and will be supported by two full-time positions for scientific assistants (pay group E13 of the federal state tariff contract), student assistants and a half-time position for administrative staff.
• The vacancy for the chair was filled in an orderly appointment procedure.
• It is to look into innovative solutions for cycle infrastructure planning as well as trial, apply and evaluate findings to develop functionally differentiated, yet self-contained, highly efficient cycling networks and integrate them with regard to urban development requirements.
• Furthermore, the chair is to develop micro- and macroscopical simulation tools that make it possible to assess the impact of (cycling) infrastructure measures, particularly with a view to integrating cycling into traffic flows.
• The chair is also to develop, trial and evaluate solutions in real-life experiments and laboratories that actually work and are suitable for use in practical applications.
• The chair is to carry out analyses of good practice projects in other cities (e.g. in very dense metropolitan areas) in Germany and abroad.

Cycling Engineering consecutive master’s degree course (M.Sc.):

• This will be offered by the Faculty of Architecture and Civil Engineering.
• Graduates with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and transport engineering or comparable degree courses with a similar focus from other universities and other institutions of higher education can study this master’s degree course.
• The degree course is to start after the successful accreditation in the 2023/2024 winter semester with around 20 students.
• The full-time degree course will require attendance, cover 4 semesters and include 120 ECTS (credit points).
• It is to comprise four modules: methodical knowledge, transport engineering, a practical project phase and the final thesis.
• In addition to the basics, the course is to impart in-depth knowledge of the design, planning and simulation of current and future cycling demand, as well as understanding and shaping of transformation processes towards a cycling-friendly city, town or region within an analysis procedure and, in particular, solving problems from an engineering perspective.

Collaborative ventures and interdisciplinary cooperation:

• With the research centre in Jülich (in the field of pedestrian dynamics), the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy (in the field of sustainability and transformation research) and the Center for Transformation Research and Sustainability (TransZent, in the field of inter- and transdisciplinary research and teaching);
• with partners from academia and practice;
• and with six other Chairs of Cycling.

Additional activities:

• The internationalisation of teaching and research is to be based on the already very good cooperation with Dutch and Danish cooperation partners, among others, focusing on the bicycle as a means of transport;
• Continuation of the international workshop programme entitled ‘freshbrains’, in which students share new ideas on cycling into local authorities (nominated for the 2020 German Cycling Prize);
• In cooperation with the Mobility and Transport Policy field of research of the Wuppertal Institute and the Institute for Advanced Simulation of the Research Centre in Jülich, additional postgraduate positions are to be created in the field of cycling planning;
• Establishment of a continuing education course for local cycling and pedestrian commissioners;
• Updating of technical regulations.

LOI – Partners:

• Then Minister of Transport of North-Rhine-Westphalia, Ina Brandes;
• Research Centre Jülich - Institute for Advanced Simulation - Civil Security Research;
• Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy;
• Center for Transformation Research and Sustainability;
• Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle-Friendly Cities, Towns and Districts in North Rhine-Westphalia (AGFS NRW);
• North Rhine-Westphalia Future Mobility Network;
• Then Mayor of the City of Wuppertal, Andreas Mucke;
• Barmer Gesundheitskasse (health insurance company).

FURTHER INFORMATION:
Summer cycling tour of the BMDV Endowed Chairs of Cycling
7 universities, 5 federal states, 1 goal: The institutions of higher education with Endowed Chairs of Cycling funded by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV) have organised a bicycle tour from university to university to experience the current situation for cyclists and initiate a dialogue with experts from the public and private sectors. More information can be found on the "The future of cycling" website (German only). On Instagram you will find an accompanying blog.