PhD School
“Mobility Data Analysis for Social and Environmental Research”
June 7-10, 2026
The PhD School aims to bring together a new generation of human mobility researchers, increase their capacity in working with and interpreting mobile big data sources and the state-of-the-art research methods, enhance their skills in geospatial data literacy and geocomputation, and discuss the role of mobile big data in land use and transport planning and governance to promote resilient, just, and sustainable societies.
The PhD School includes:
- Four parallel hands-on workshops for studying geocomputation in mobility research and data analysis approaches for various types of mobile (big) data to aid the understanding of our mobility systems, travel flows, accessibility, and respective socio-spatial context. The workshops are supervised by teams from four universities (MIT, University of Liverpool, University of Leeds, and University of Tartu), and each participant can indicate their preference upon registration.
- Academic lecture by Prof. Andres Sevtsuk (City Form Lab, MIT).
- Oral or poster presentation of own research on human mobility research.
- Full integration of the PhD School into the main conference programme, giving good visibility to PhD researchers’ work.
- Interaction with members from the EIT Urban Mobility Doctoral Training Network, Estonian Doctoral School, and the participants of the main conference;
- Transport to the out-of-town location of the first PhD School day from Tallinn and Tartu and back to Tartu in the evening.
- Catering throughout the programme, incl. coffee breaks, lunches, PhD School social event, conference opening, conference dinner, and informal closing.
- A rich social programme.
The PhD School offers an excellent opportunity for doctoral researchers to learn from one another and receive peer and professional feedback on their own research. The PhD School contributes to the development of international and interdisciplinary networks of early-career researchers interested in human mobility and mobile big data research.
Key dates:
Abstract submission deadline: 31 January 2026 (closed).
Registration is open for those PhD researchers who have received an abstract and PhD School participation acceptance letter from the organisers.
Early Bird registration deadline: 31 March 2026. We expect that all PhD School participants register by that date for programme preparation purposes.
Sleeping Beauty registration deadline: 25 May 2026. For exceptional cases only.
Practicalities:
Target group: Doctoral researchers (graduate students and postdocs are also welcome)
Venue: The first day of workshops and lectures (7 June) will take place at Jääaja Keskus at Lake Saadjärv (transport will be provided for all registered participants both from Tallinn and from Tartu). The remaining days (8–10 June) will be held in Tartu and are fully integrated into the main conference programme.
Abstract submission (closed): Those who wish to participate in the PhD School are encouraged to submit an abstract to the conference, as it will be prioritised in the consideration for attendance in the PhD School due to the limited number of places. Abstract submission is mandatory for EIT Urban Mobility Doctoral Training Network members. Based on the abstract evaluation process, PhD School participants may be assigned to either poster or oral presentation sessions of the main conference.
In the case of free spots, the acceptance of other participants will be subject to the availability of free spots in the live queue during the registration phase. Due to a large interest, no free spots are currently available.
Registration and participation fees: Participation in the PhD School is free of charge for the members of the EIT Urban Mobility Doctoral Training Network and the Estonian Doctoral School, considering they have received a PhD School participation acceptance letter from the organisers. For other participants, the participation fees are indicated here.
Participants are required to bring their own laptop to participate in the workshop. All participants can indicate their interest in participating in specific workshops in the registration form.
PhD School programme overview
This event is organised in cooperation with the EIT Urban Mobility Doctoral Training Network and the Estonian Doctoral School.
