Dr Zia Wadud

Profile

Zia Wadud is an Associate Professor in Transport and Energy Interactions at the University of Leeds. Zia has a multidisicplinary expertise as an engineer and econometrician in transport-automation interactions, transport and energy demand, and data analysis in national and international context. His recent works on the impacts of vehicle automation and sharing and multi-country comparison of costs and adoption of EVs gained international media attention (Times, New York Times, Guardian, Business Insider, MIT Tech Review, etc.). Other recent works include heterogeneity and asymmetry in transport and energy demand, quantitative impact modeling of energy transition in transport, implications of autonomous vehicles, peak car, transport energy poverty and innovative carbon mitigation policies (e.g. personal carbon trading).

Zia is a member of three expert committees of the Transportation Research Board of the US National Academy of Sciences and also acted as the Honorary Secretary and elected Executive Committee member of the Universities’ Transport Studies Group in the UK. He has published over 50 papers in leading academic journals, with some gaining widespread attention from the academia and the members of the public. He is the PI of the European Union project on the tradeoff between domestic and transport energy use and has led the Sustainable Transport Policy group at the Institute for Transport Studies. Zia has worked in four different continents in different capacities, and his international consulting experience includes some of the largest urban transport infrastructure projects in Bangladesh. He recently advised DfT modelling and appraisal group on automation scenarios for its RIS2 and RTF18 stream of work and was invited to give evidence to the Demand Commission on impacts of automation and sharing.  

Zia holds a joint appointment with the Institute for Transport Studies and School of Chemical and Process Engineering within the University of Leeds. He graduated from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, did a Masters in Development Technologies from University of Melbourne, and completed his PhD from Imperial College London. Prior to joining Leeds, he has worked at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, University of Cambridge and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At ITS, he also acts as the Director of Postgraduate Research Studies. 

Zia welcomes PhD applications broadly in the areas mentioned below.

Responsibilities

• Director of Postgraduate Research Studies, ITS

Research interests

• Transport, energy and environmental interaction
• Impact of vehicle automation and new mobility services
• Energy and travel demand
• Econometric modelling of tansport and energy data
• Innovative energy policies
• Transport and energy in developing countries
• Integrated modelling

Research Impact News

• TR-A paper Help or hindrance? Travel, energy and carbon implications of highly automated vehicles has been among no. most downloaded and cited paper of the journal (remained 1-3 for 5 years). It also has the highest Altmetric Score of any paper ever published in TR-A.
  • Featured in the media of more than 20 countries including the Times, New York Times, Boston Globe, Business Insider, IFLScience, Vox, World Economic Forum, PBS , earthtalk etc.
  • A policy briefing here: www.its.leeds.ac.uk/mobilityenergyfutures-selfdrivingcars 
  • University Press release for the help or hindrance paper here 
  • BBC Radio Why Factor here
  • University spotlight feature here
  • Conversation piece here
• Applied Energy paper on cost comparisons of Electric Vehicles has been no. 2-4 most downloaded paper of the journal since publication. It was also amongst the most cited papers of the journal.
  • Featured in the Guardian: here
• TR-A paper on cost of ownership of automated vehicles for private and commercial use was among most downloaded and most list of the journal.
• Fire Technology paper on Fire Risk index for garment industry in Bangladesh is the most downloaded paper of the journal.
• Applied Energy paper on energy use in higher education was among the most downloaded list of the journal
• ICE-Transport paper on using chauffeur driven vehicles to understand travel time use in automated vehicles was among the top 3 most downloaded and most cited list of the journal. 
  • Featured in the media in several countries: Evening Standard, Times of Malta.
  • ITS news coverage here.
  • Conversation piece here.
• Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspective paper on mode switch during COVID19 in India was among the most dlownloaded listed of the journal.
• Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspective paper on social science perspectives on vehicle automation was among the most dlownloaded listed of the journal.
• Physics of Fluids paper on modelling COVID19 airborne risk exposure was made a ‘featured’ paper on its webpage. It was among the most downloaded paper list of the journal. 
  • University news coverage here.

Research Grants (at Leeds)

• Microsimulation of energy and emissions impacts of self-driving vehicles, Arup Global Challenges
• Modeling Residential and Transport Energy for Downstream Policies, Marie Curie Actions
• Dynamics of Energy Mobility and Demand Centre, RCUK
• UK Centre for Researching Energy Demand Solutions, RCUK
• UK Energy Research Centre, phase 4, RCUK
• Modelling exposure risk tradeoff in public transport and para-transit, GCRF/EPSRC
• Links between COVID19, transport and air quality in Bangladesh, FCDO

Other Ongoing Research

• Long distance trael and its energy and carbon implications
• Ownership vs, sharing in the context of fully automated vehicles
• New mobility services and their impacts
• Vehicle sharing intentions

Doctoral Research Students

• Richard Riley, CO2 benefits of hybrid vehicles for taxi fleet (completed 2016)
• Holly Edwards, Low carbon cockpit: reducing fuel use in aircraft operations (completed 2016)
• Abdullah Alsebaei, Solid waste management in Mina during the Hajj season (completed 2015)
• Kate Palmer, Modeling energy and emissions implications of future transport fleet (completed 2019)
• Andreas Andreou, Energy demand in a changed climate (completed 2021)
• Charlotte Stead, Biodiesel for Indian Railway (completed 2021)
• Thalia Hernandez Amezcua, Reducting transport carbon emission in Mexico 
• Khaled Abdullah, Traffic modelling of automated vehicles
• Xudong Chen (visiting), Environmental traffic capacity
• Nura Kabuga, transport energy efficiency analysis using SFA/DEA 
• Oguz Tengilimoglu, road readiness index for automated vehicle
• Pinar Bilgin, Effects of ridehailing services on different transport outcome
• Lawrence Alongou, Electric vehicle choices
• Cameron Rout, Hydrogen for fleet applications – lifecycle cost and emissions

Employment History

• 2016-present, Associate Professor, Centre for Integrated Energy Research, Institute for Transport Studies and School of Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Leeds
• 2012-2015, University Research Fellow, Centre for Integrated Energy Research, Institute for Transport Studies and School of Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Leeds
• 2008-2011, 2004, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engg., Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology
• 2008, Postdoctoral Associate, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• 2007-2008, Research Associate, Department of Architecture, University of Cambridge
• 1999-2002, Lecturer, Department of Civil Engg., Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology

Qualifications

• PhD in Civil Engineering, Imperial College London, 2008
• Master in Development Technologies, University of Melbourne, 2003
• MSc in Civil Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, 2002
• BSc in Civil Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, 1999

Professional memberships

• Member of the Editorial Panel, Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment
• Member, Committee on Transportation Energy, Transportation Research Board (TRB)
• Member, Committee on Aviation Economics and Forecasting, TRB
• Member, Special Task Force on Climate Change and Energy, TRB
• Ex-Member of the Editorial Panel, Proceedings of the ICE: Energy
• Fellow, Energy Institute

Student education

Zia is currently the Director of Postgraduate Research Studies at the Institute for Transport Studies. He teaches undergraduate and postgraduate modules at both the Institute for Transport Studies and the School of Chemical and Process Engineering and also guest lectures at the School of Civil Engineering. He supervises student dissertations at the undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD level at ITS, SCAPE, Civil Engineering, Business School and Earth and Environment.

Research groups and institutes

• Spatial Modelling and Dynamics
• Sustainable Cities

Current postgraduate researchers

• Pinar Bilgin
• Oguz Tengilimoglu
• Lawrence A. Alongu
• Chenghao Qian