[Centre-UB studentships cover tuition fees, a maintenance stipend, support for research training, and research activity support grants. Up to 30% of international applicants can be recruited each year due to UKRI stipulations.]

The Centre for National Training and Research Excellence in Understanding Behaviour (Centre-UB) at the University of Birmingham, in collaboration with the Department for Transport, is offering a fully funded PhD studentship focused on understanding and changing driver behaviours in situations of acute stress. This interdisciplinary project seeks to explore how drivers respond to short-term, context-specific stressors such as increased cognitive load, perceived urgency, traffic density, and environmental disruptions. The research will model driver behaviour as a dynamic continuum, influenced by factors like time pressure, uncertainty, and expectations of disruption, with scenarios ranging from routine congestion to emergency evacuations and major power outages.

The successful candidate will employ systems thinking to map psychosocial processes that lead to behavioural tipping points, such as rule-bending or queue-jumping, and investigate why certain groups (e.g., elderly, disabled, tourists) may be more prone to maladaptive behaviours. The project aims to develop practical interventions—such as improved communications, routing strategies, and preparedness cues—to promote safer and more cooperative driving regimes, ultimately enhancing the safety, equity, and resilience of road networks.

Supervision will be provided by Professor Russell Beale (expert in human computer interaction) and Dr Renate Reniers (expert in psychology), with co-supervision from the Department for Transport’s Behavioural Science team. The student will have access to operational expertise and real-world datasets, and will be expected to design studies, analyse data, develop behavioural models, and co-produce interventions with project partners.

Applicants should hold a 1st class or 2:1 undergraduate degree, or a good master’s degree, in a relevant social science discipline such as behavioural science, human computer interaction, psychology, human geography, public health, or cognitive science. Experience with qualitative and quantitative research, behavioural intervention design, agent-based modelling, and online experiments is desirable. Centre-UB studentships provide full tuition coverage, a maintenance stipend, support for research training, and research activity grants. Up to 30% of the cohort may be international students, in line with UKRI funding stipulations.

The application deadline is 17 February 2026, with interviews scheduled for 18th and 19th March. For application instructions, visit Centre-UB Application Process. Further details about the studentship and eligibility can be found at Centre-UB Call for Applicants. Informal enquiries may be directed to Dr Renate Reniers at [email protected].