Professors from the BIT Research Group at the UPC, Francesc Robusté, Francesc Soriguera, and Miquel Estrada, are participating in this project, helping to explore sustainable mobility solutions for climate-resilient cities.
The Unite! university alliance, to which the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC) belongs, launched the Unite! Sustainable Mobility Forum (U!SMF) during the final semester of the 2024-2025 academic year. This innovative online forum connects master's students from seven European universities to foster academic collaboration and explore sustainable mobility solutions. Around 120 students from the Unite! alliance and the EIT Urban Mobility Master School are participating in this first edition.
The aim is to promote a European perspective on sustainable transport and stimulate critical reflection on the intersection of mobility, climate action, and digital innovation. The forum, hosted on the Unite! Metacampus platform, awards up to 12 ECTS credits and is aimed at students of engineering, urban planning, mobility research, transport, transit, and related disciplines.
Cross-disciplinary knowledge and shared debate
Conceived as a recurring initiative throughout the year, the U!SMF combines academic lectures, interactive discussions, and input from industry and public policymakers. Professors from the seven Unite! universities lead the seminars, sharing their expertise in sustainable transport systems, traffic engineering, logistics, and artificial intelligence.
Through the participation of external experts and the general public, the forum not only strengthens knowledge exchange within the alliance but also contributes to the broader European debate, recognizing the transport sector as a key factor in achieving climate goals.
Participating students have the opportunity to:
- Learn from leading academics and practitioners in sustainable mobility.
- Participate in critical discussions on real-life challenges in transport and urban resilience.
- Earn up to 12 ECTS credits in an internationally recognized environment.
- Create European networks with peers, researchers, and industry stakeholders.
- Develop intercultural and interdisciplinary skills relevant to careers in science, policy, or mobility.
For Professor Eva Kaßens-Noor, Director of the Institute of Transport Planning and Traffic Engineering at TU Darmstadt, “the Unite! Sustainable Mobility Forum is a unique opportunity for students to learn about mobility in European cities and how stakeholders can build a resilient European transport system through best practices, new solutions, and innovations”.
Coordination at the UPC
Professors Francesc Robusté, Francesc Soriguera, and Miquel Estrada, from the BIT research group, participate in the program from the UPC. Like the other local coordinators at Unite! universities, they organize two annual seminar cycles, including an initial workshop, continuous assessment, and continuous improvement. The BIT (Barcelona Innovative Transportation) Research Group, recognized as consolidated by the Generalitat de Catalunya (Catalan Government) in the 2017-2019 call, is a solid team with scientific research in the fields of Transport, Mobility, and Logistics. All members of the group have similar backgrounds, but each has specialized in a particular branch of transportation. The group's goals are to generate knowledge in Transportation, Mobility, and Logistics and transfer it to society through research, innovation, training, and technology transfer activities.
Main research interests include: mobility as a service (MaaS), airports, valuation, autonomous vehicles, bicycles, buses, concessions, demand, freight transport, financing, intermodality, logistics, management, maritime transport, operations and optimization, pedestrians, ports, pricing, public transport, railways, regulation, road safety, smart cities, taxis, trams, and traffic science.
More information: https://www.unite-university.eu/