The Mobility Lab is proud to be part of the EIT Urban Mobility Doctoral Training Network (DTN) which connects universities, researchers, and PhD candidates to advance innovation and entrepreneurship in the field of urban mobility. Our PhD candidates, Elise and Martin, are active members of the programme and have already benefited from international collaboration, skill-building workshops, and specialised training courses.
The main event of the programme is the DTN Annual Forum which is held by a different partner institution every year. The multiday event brings together PhD candidates, experts, scholars, and industry leaders from around the world. PhD candidates have the opportunity to listen to keynote presentations, present their research, exchange ideas, attend site-visits, and participate in hands-on workshops.
The 2025 Annual Forum, held in Lisbon, was attended by Elise, Martin, and Anto. During the three-day event, they heard keynotes on topics covering equitable transport planning, AI, and pedestrian accessibility. The many social events including a river cruise and dinners were great for connecting with fellow researchers and the DTN community. As part of the site-visits, Elise and Martin visited the Gira bike sharing system’s maintenance and operations centre. We are especially pleased to share that Martin won second place in the 3-minute PhD research pitching competition!
Experiencing and learning from the best organisational practices in Lisbon was particularly valuable because we are thrilled to announce that the next DTN Annual Forum will take place in our hometown: Tartu, Estonia! The event will follow our flagship conference, Mobile Tartu 2026 (7-10th June), and we are excited to welcome the global urban mobility community to Tartu for the DTN annual forum on 11-13th June.
Across three days, the programme will feature three presentation sessions bringing together invited speakers from academia, the public sector, and private industry. These sessions will be organised as thematic pairs, bringing together different angles on a common topic. Annual Forum participants will also have the opportunity to take part in an urban mobility experiment and join site visits in Tartu, as well as a separate excursion day to the capital city, Tallinn. From the social programme side, we want to offer you a chance to experience a bit of Estonian culture.
We look forward to hosting inspiring discussions and showcasing all that Tartu has to offer. Stay tuned for more updates!
The Mobility Lab of the University of Tartu is an interdisciplinary research group that studies human mobility and its associations with society and the environment using mobile (big) data.