University of Kassel fills cycling professorship with traffic psychologist Angela Francke

"Hessen is increasingly becoming a scientific pacesetter in improving cycling in Germany. Now the third of the endowed professorships that we were able to bring to Hesse from the federal program has also been filled. It is remarkable that three of the seven endowed professorships nationwide went to Hesse. This is also a confirmation of the basic attitude of Hessen's mobility policy: We see pedestrian and bicycle traffic as an integral part of a modern mobility system and want to develop it optimally. 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 on environmentally compatible forms of mobility in particular. We are currently expanding this sustainability focus even further and are thus also creating new study opportunities for young people who want to help shape a world that is worth living in for 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 the TU Dresden, with a thesis on differentiated pricing systems in urban traffic to promote environmentally friendly mobility behavior. For many years, she has conducted research on 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 now moving to Kassel. Her research interests include active mobility and infrastructure, intermodal linkages, road safety, and empirical data analysis of mobility behavior. She brings experience working with the Global South and a perspective on international cycling solutions.

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

In Kassel, she encounters a "particularly exciting field of research," finds Prof. Dr.-Ing. Carsten Sommer. He is head of the department of "Transport Planning and Transport Systems" and played a leading role in attracting funds from the German Federal Ministry of Transport for this professorship. "Kassel is strongly influenced by the model of a car-oriented city of the post-war period. The conversion to a people-oriented city can be exemplary for other German cities."

Students at the University of Kassel will benefit from the new professorship both in existing courses and in the new master's degree in "Mobility, Transport and Infrastructure." Starting in the winter semester of 2021/2022, this master's degree 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 chair 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 had 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
Tel.: +49 561 804-1961
E-mail: presse[at]uni-kassel[dot]de