1.Give us a few information about your organization
The Transport Systems Research Group (TSRG) was founded in 1998, in the frame of the Division of Transportation and Project Management, of the School of Civil Engineering, of the Faculty of Engineering, of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh), the largest university of Greece. Since then, TSRG has participated in and coordinated several European and national transportation-related research projects.
What is your field of expertise?
The scientific activities of TSRG fall under the areas of operation, planning, organization, and management of transportation systems as well as their impact on people, the environment, and sustainable development; e.g., urban and rural public transportation and Flexible Transport Systems (FTS); freight transportation and logistics; accessibility of People with Disability (PwD) and people with reduced mobility; feasibility, traffic, and mobility studies; human factors and aesthetics of transportation systems; social impact analysis, environmental management, and externalities of transportation systems; new technologies, transportation telematics, Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), and Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAVs); carsharing and carpooling; transport/road safety and traffic/mobility psychology; tourism and transport; strategic planning and transportation policy; modeling and operations research; etc.
3. What is your organization’s impact on society?
TSRG carries out funded (from public and private organizations) and non-funded research. It combines field knowledge with established collaborations in every project, utilizes existing expertise within AUTh, and cooperates with external consultants and researchers. The current facilities are continuously upgrading to keep up with research and development demands. We think that its impact on society is mainly in the fields of accessibility for PwD, on road safety and traffic psychology focusing on young and novice drivers, and on the strategic planning of public transportation systems at the European level.
4. What inspired you to create your organization?
TSRG was founded by the Em. Prof. Aristotelis Naniopoulos during an era in which transportation research was not well established in Greece. The need to participate in the European transportation research landscape with an anthropocentric approach, and, in parallel, promoting the accessibility for PwD, road safety, innovative solutions for public transportation, reducing the environmental impact of transportation systems, etc., in Greece, lead to the creation of TSRG.
5. What are some of your most important collaborations on EU Projects?
After 20 years of participating and coordinating European research projects, TSRG has collaborated with many well-established academic and research institutes, associations, and companies. We consider all of our partners equally important, as everyone tries its best given its resources, so please check our projects for further information regarding our partners.
6. What is something your organization achieved that you are proud of?
We are the first academic or research institute that obtained and used a driver training simulator in Greece in the frame of the FP5 TRAINER project in the early 2000s. This was very innovative and important given that young and novice drivers were found to cause many traffic accidents in the European Union and Greece at that time. Another achievement of TSRG is the accessibility interventions in several UNESCO monuments of Thessaloniki in the frame of the PROSPELASIS project. These interventions were very challenging due to legal and other restrictions. Of course, we are also proud of all the European projects we have coordinated, the last one of which was CIPTEC, a Horizon 2020 research project.
7. What kinds of projects do you want to work on?
We are interested in transportation research-related projects, especially those with an anthropocentric approach, e.g., accessibility of PwD, traffic psychology, reliable public transport services for committed users, addressing environmental impacts and externalities of transportation systems, active and shared mobility, etc.
8. What is it that you are looking for, from an EU partner?
We appreciate reliability and the willingness to take a step forward in each research project, apart from just fulfilling its requirements. Usually, this brings new ideas for further research and following projects.
9. How did you get to know the EUcalls platform?
We found EUcalls after discussions with our partners and search on the Internet.
10. Why did you choose the EUcalls platform to assist you with your work?
We think that this is an excellent platform to share research ideas and find prospective partners that are interested in our research
11. Is there something else you wish to add regarding your organization?
For more information regarding AUTh and TSRG you may visit the respective websites.
12. Are you satisfied with the EUcalls services?
Yes!
13. Would you recommend Eucalls to others?
Of course!
