IVORY - Artificial Intelligence for Vision Zero in Road Safety

PhD Candidate Vacancy Description

Within the framework of the Horizon Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Industrial Doctoral
Network IVORY - Artificial Intelligence for Vision Zero in Road Safety, a call for applications for the
following Industrial PhD candidate has been launched, to be hosted by National Technical University
of Athens (NTUA), a Centre of Road Safety Research Excellence with global recognition.

PhD #8 Proactive risk mapping and

infrastructure safety management
Vacancy description Within the IVORY doctoral network, this PhD position aims to create an AI
framework to process, harmonise, analyse and model an array of different
available datasets and provide outputs in the form of risk mapping and
network-level evaluations. It will develop new AI algorithms for road attribute
collection, along with methodologies to assess and quantify their accuracies,
suitable for network applications and including hybrid, e.g., manually collected
data and will use the AI-augmented dataset creation effort for a suitable
working methodology for the generation of hybrid road attribute data and
enhanced proactive risk mapping.
The position contributes to road safety research by formulating a functional
framework with the use of AI to exploit road risk information in a meaningful
manner, transferable between networks. It will assess and quantify the
influence of each examined factor on the output of AI algorithms for safety
 management. A case study with actionable results will be conducted,
compatible with the mission and activities of iRAP – namely, a proactive risk
mapping and evaluation of a network and comparison with existing risk-
mapping results, and quantification of transferability to a second network.
Project description IVORY (ivory-network.eu) is a Horizon Europe MARIE SKLODOWSKA-CURIE
ACTION Industrial Doctoral Network consisting of 22 partners (universities,
industry, and non-governmental organizations). The project aims to develop a
new framework for the integration of AI in road safety and train a new
generation of leading researchers in the field, in order to address the UN
Sustainable Development Goals target 3.6 (halving the number of traffic
fatalities by 2030) and EC ‘Vision Zero’ strategy (eliminating traffic fatalities by
2050).
PhD students will obtain their PhD degree from the relevant academic partner,
and spend at least 50% of their PhD time at the relevant non-academic partner.
Academic host National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Athens, Greece
School of Civil Engineering
Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering
Months 19-36 of PhD
Industry host iRAP, London, United Kingdom, Month 1-18 of PhD
Secondment(s) FRED Engineering, Rome, Italy, Duration: 4 months
OSeven, Athens, Greece, Duration: 9 months
Research field(s) Transport engineering; Traffic safety; Data science; Spatial analysis

Application deadline 16 February 2024

Type of contract Fixed-term
Employment status Full time (1.0 fte)
Eligibility criteria • A Master's degree (or equivalent);
• Not in possession of a doctoral degree at the date of the recruitment;
• Recruited applicants can be of any nationality and must undertake trans-
national mobility (i.e., move from one country to another) when taking up
the appointment. In particular, at the time of selection, the recruited
applicant for this position must not have resided or carried out their main
activity (work, studies, etc.) in the United Kingdom for more than 12
months in the 3 years immediately prior to their recruitment. Short stays,
such as holidays, are not taken into account.
Required skills • A Master's degree (or equivalent) in any technical science
• Familiarity and hands-on experience with machine learning algorithms
• Familiarity with statistics (statistical tests and regression) and probability
distributions
• Coding skills in Python or R
• Strong conceptual and analytical skills
• Proven capacity to undertake research
• Excellent research, academic writing and presentation skills
• The ability to work both independently and as part of a team
• High level of proficiency in English
Optional skills • Familiarity with data handling and manipulation, experience working with
(preferred but not big data
required) • Passion about road infrastructure and transport safety fields
• Commitment to undertaking multi-year (3 years or more) doctoral
research
English requirement Proof of English language proficiency at a Common European Framework of
Reference (CEFR) level of C1, or an MSc degree in English, or IELTS: minimum
8.0 / TOEFL: minimum 110
Salary The successful candidate will receive an attractive salary following the MSCA
regulations for doctoral candidates. The exact salary will vary depending on the
country of the host partner and will be confirmed upon appointment. The
salary includes a living allowance, a mobility allowance, and a family allowance
(if the recruited doctoral candidate has or acquires family obligations during
the duration of the fellowship), and is very competitive overall.

Other benefits In addition, the doctoral candidate will benefit from extensive training within
the IVORY network, which includes internships/secondments in other
laboratories, a variety of training courses (including transferable skills), and
active participation in workshops and conferences.

Application process • Candidates should apply electronically using the link indicated in the PhD
position(s) of their interest;
• Candidates should provide the following documents:
o Detailed CV, including information on the candidate’s proficiency in
English
o Motivation letter (1 page), describing why the position fits the
applicant
o Contact information of 2 references
Academic host The National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) is the oldest engineering
school in Greece and it plays a paragon role in the scientific, technical and
economic development of Greece but also in Europe and worldwide,
consistently ranking as the best Greek technical university. Lately, it is ranked
among the top engineering and technology universities (3rd in Europe and 7th
worldwide) by Shanghai World University Rankings. NTUA has been involved
in more than 160 road safety research projects since the early 1990s,
comprising 70 European Commission projects, 14 International Organisation
projects (UN-ECE, WHO, EIB, World Bank, ITF, CEDR) and 76 Greek projects.
NTUA has well established communication channels to promote research
findings: more than 800 road safety scientific publications highly cited globally,
including more than 220 in scientific journals and 550 in scientific conferences.
The NTUA Road Safety Observatory (NRSO) (www.nrso.ntua.gr) has a
widespread recognition at the global road safety community as a center of
research and innovation excellence on road safety, having received during the
last 10 years more than 150.000 road safety visitors and more than 2,800,000
visits (today steadily more than 3.000 visits per month).
Industry host The International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) is a registered charity
dedicated to saving lives by eliminating high risk roads throughout the world.
Like many life-saving charities working in the public health arena, we use a
robust, evidence-based approach to prevent unnecessary deaths and
suffering. iRAP works in partnership with governments, road authorities,
 mobility clubs, development banks, NGOs and research organisations to:
• Inspect high-risk roads and develop Star Ratings, Risk Maps and Safer Roads
Investment Plans
• Provide training, technology and support that will build and sustain
national, regional and local capability
• Track road safety performance so that funding agencies can assess the
benefits of their investments.
Additional For more information about this vacancy, please contact Professor George
information Yannis at this email address: geyannis@central.ntua.gr