▾R&D: Social & economic sciences

„People are the focus of my research“

FIELD OF STUDY: Psychology | NOW: Institute of Transportation Systems

R&D: Social & economic sciences

Research at the interface between humans and technology

The focus is on the future of mobility, connectivity and automation, taking the human factor into account. When DLR needs to analyse and predict human behaviour in certain situations or the acceptance of innovative transport services, your expertise is needed. Are you up to the task?

We offer you an excellent, rewarding research environment and socially relevant projects that make every academic heart beat faster. But there is more – you will have access to the unique infrastructure of a research institution that enables you to work on cutting-edge projects.

You will have enough freedom to develop your own ideas while working alongside motivated colleagues to help find answers to the key challenges of the future.

Join us in shaping the future. Yours and that of us all.

• The unique infrastructure of a research organisation
• Room for high-quality scientific work
• A well-equipped workplace
• An open and motivating working environment
• Home office and remote working opportunities
• Socially relevant projects and goals
• Personalised further training opportunities
• A resilient workplace in times of crisis
• Security, company pension scheme and additional benefits offered by a public organisation

Take Alexandra König from the DLR Institute of Transportation Systems. She is working on the design of future, user-centric mobility systems in various areas, such as rural mobility, inclusive mobility concepts and automated shuttle buses. By conducting qualitative user surveys, she gains deep insights into people's thoughts and attitudes. The results are rewarding: “The beauty of our work is that it is very often translated into real-world products or services. The results of our research can then actually be seen on the road at some point,” says Alexandra happily.

Here are some of the questions we address:

• How do we recognise critical situations in traffic flow, for example at junctions and level crossings, and take these into account in the development of assistance systems?
• How can we overcome the psychological challenges faced by people involved in aviation, spaceflight and transport?
• How can we optimise the use of the existing transport network?
• How do we assess the impact of current and new technologies on the environment, transport markets and society and the resulting regulatory requirements?
• How can humans and machines communicate with each other effectively in road traffic?
• How does the fatigue of operators in control centres affect collaborative monitoring and decision-making?

As a psychologist, you will have the opportunity to take on extraordinary tasks at DLR, such as:

• Designing innovative transport services and tailoring them to user needs
• Evaluating inclusive mobility concepts
• Developing principles of cooperation between human operators and AI-based assistance systems

Take a look around – our research work covers a wide range of areas!

Many exciting projects await you in the field of sociology. These include, for example:

• Designing train compartments to meet the needs of different user groups
• Analysing and evaluating the requirements of different target groups for automated shuttle buses

As an economist, you will take on challenging tasks at DLR. For example:

• Investigating the future capacity utilisation of transport networks and hubs
• Modelling competition, market access and regulatory measures in air transport from an economic perspective
• Analysing the requirements for a product to detect mould in buildings