Tim Schwanen is Professor of Transport Geography and Director of the Transport Studies Unit (TSU), a research institute within the School of Geography and the Environment at the University of Oxford. He is a geographer working at the intersections of transport and urban geography. In his research he uses the mobilities of people, goods and information within, to and between cities as a point of entry to address broader questions about system transformation, climate change, inequality, justice, governance, and the creation of academic knowledge. He offers strategic leadership to the TSU and is an experienced principal or co-investigator on collaborative research projects.
Contact
Transport Studies Unit, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford
South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QY, England. E-mail: tim.schwanen@ouce.ox.ac.uk.
Education and Qualifications
- 99-03 PhD in Human Geography (cum laude) Utrecht University, the Netherlands. Date of doctorate: 6 June 2003
- 95-99 Master’s Degree in Human Geography (cum laude), Utrecht University
Professional History
- 09/21-Professor of Transport Geography and Director of the Transport Studies Unit, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford
- 09/15-08/21 Associate Professor in Transport Studies (since August 2019: Professor of Transport Studies and Geography) and Director of the Transport Studies, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford
- 11/12-08/15 Departmental Research Lecturer and Associate Professor in Transport Studies and Human Geography, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford
- 03/09-10/12 Research Fellow Transport and Geography, Transport Studies Unit, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford
- 03/07-02/09 Lecturer in Urban Geography (tenured), Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University
- 04/03-03/07 Postdoctoral Researcher, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University
Selected Research Grants
- Since 2003 I have been involved in successful grant applicants for approx. £ 34.7m in total, of which £ 4.7m has enabled research by myself and researchers I supervise or line manage. Selected grants include:
- Engaging, Embracing and Improving Existing Realities in Rwanda and Ghana, ARP-MAC, Volvo Research and Education Foundation, Jan 2025-Dec 2027, SEK 6m of which SEF 555k for TSU, Co-I with Prof J Malonza (PI), et al.
- Specifying Practices Enabled by Cycling In FIfteen-minute Cities (SPECIFIC), Driving Urban Transitions 2022, ESRC and other European funding agencies, Jan 2024-Dec 2026, € 1.8m of which £ 216,209 (80%FEC) for TSU, PI
- Inclusive Transition to Electric Mobility, ESRC, 03/21-02/24, £ 337k (80% FTE), PI.
- Oxford Martin School Programme on Informal Cities, University of Oxford, 06/19-05/22, £ 750k of which £ 160k for TSU, Co-I with Prof K Rahimi (PI) et al.
- Vehicle To Grid Oxford (V2GO), Innovate UK, 06/18-12/20, £ 800k (80% FEC) for academic research of which ~£ 275k (80% FEC) for TSU, Co-I with M McCulloch (PI) et al.
- Centre for Reduction in Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS), EPSRC, 04/18-12/23, £19.0m (80%FEC) of which £ 356k (80%FEC) for TSU, Co-I with N Eyre (PI) et al.
- GCRF: Building capacity for the future city in developing countries (PEAK), GCRF RCUK, 10/17-03/22, £ 7m (80% FEC) of which ~£ 700k (80% FEC), Co-I with M Keith (PI) et al.
- Designing and Policy Implementation for encouraging Cycling and walking Trips (DEPICT), ESRC, 09/15-12/18, £ 267k (80% FEC), PI.
- Centre on Innovation and Energy Demand, End Use Energy Demand (EUED) programme, RCUK, 06/13-03/18, £ 3,5m of which £ 417k, Co-I with B Sovacool et al.
- Coping with Coupling Constraints: the timing of activities and travel in uncertain environments, Innovational Research Incentives Scheme (VENI), Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), 04/04-03/07, € 200k, PI
Management and Service
- Director of the Transport Studies Unit, University of Oxford (2015-)
- Co-Director of the RCUK funded Centre of Innovation and Energy Demand (2013-19)
- Editor-in-chief of Journal of Transport Geography (2013-15)
- Editor of Environment and Planning F (2021- )
- Editorial advisory board membership, Current: Applied Mobilities (2016-), Journal of Transport Geography (2012-), Journal of Urban Mobility (2012- ), npj Sustainable Transport and Mobility (2023- ), Transportation (2009-), Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment (2015-), Travel Behaviour and Society (2014-). Past: Annals of the American Association of Geographers (2014-2017), Environment and Planning A (2013-2017), European Journal of Futures Research (2014-21), Sustainability (2015-21)
- KiM Research Fellow, KiM Netherlands Institute for Transport Policy Analysis, Netherlands Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment (2013-)
- Organising Tutor of the Geography School at St Anne’s College, Oxford (2015-21)
Awards and Recognition
- Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (09/21-)
- Edward L. Ullman Award, Transportation Geography Specialty Group, American Association for Geography (AAG) for “outstanding contributions to transport geography”, 2018
- Francqui Chair (Visiting Professor), Faculty of Sciences, University of Ghent, 2021-2022
- Visiting Professor of Human Geography, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg, 07/16-06/19
- 17 keynote lectures at international conferences, incl. the Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers Plenary Lecture, 2016 Annual International Conference, RGS/IBG
Selected Publications
- Since 2001 I have (co)authored 191 journal papers, 23 book chapters and 1 book, and co-edited 3 edited volumes and 23 special issues. My work has been cited more than 24.7k times (h-index: 86) according to Google Scholar. Selected publications include:
- Schwanen T (2024) Geographies of value and valuation: On boundary objects, a sensibility and trajectories. Environment and Planning F 3(4), 211-226.
- Espey J, Keith M, Parnell S, Schwanen T, Seto KC (2024) Designing policy for Earth’s urban future. Science 383(6681), 364-367.
- Schwanen T (2021) Achieving just transitions to low-carbon urban mobility. Nature Energy 6, 685-687.
- Verlinghieri E, Schwanen T (2020) Transport and mobility justice: evolving discussions. Journal of Transport Geography 87, 102798.
- Schwanen T, Van Kempen (eds) (2019) Handbook of Urban Geography. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham.
- Geels FW, Sovacool BK, Schwanen T, Sorrell S (2017) Sociotechnical transitions for deep decarbonization. Science 357(6357), 1242-1244.
- Pereira R, Schwanen T, Banister D (2017) Distributive justice and equity in transportation. Transport Reviews 37(2), 170-191.
- Kwan M-P, Schwanen T (2016) Geographies of mobility. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 106(2), 243-256.
- Schwanen T (2016) Geographies of transport I: Reinventing a field? Progress in Human Geography 40(1), 126-137.
- Schwanen T, Wang D (2014) Well-being, context and everyday activities in space and time, Annals of the Association of American Geographers 104(4), 833-851.