In many NECTAR meetings, workshops and conferences, PhD students present and discuss their work. To recognize the high quality of the research conducted by the best of the PhD students supervised by NECTAR members, NECTAR awards a PhD award at its international Conference. The PhD award is established in memory of Professor Piet Rietveld, who chaired NECTAR in the years 2002-2007 and who with his exceptional academic abilities inspired and stimulated many young researchers, PhD students and the NECTAR community in general.
The NECTAR PhD award considers PhD dissertations written in English defended in the period between two biennial international NECTAR conferences. Nominations can be submitted by a thesis supervisor who is a running NECTAR member. The nominated PhD dissertations are assessed by a PhD Award Jury comprising of former and present NECTAR Presidents, and a selection of the current NECTAR cluster co-chairs. Criteria for assessment are scientific quality, originality of contribution to knowledge within the NECTAR field of research, societal relevance and writing/presentation.
NECTAR PhD Award 2026
Dr. Rodrigo Victoriano-Habit is the recipient of the 6th NECTAR PhD award, awarded at the 2026 NECTAR International Conference in Munich, Germany, July 13-15, 2026. The price is awarded to the best PhD thesis in the NECTAR domain of research, defended between July 2024 and June 2026. The jury, chaired by former NECTAR chair Professor Karst Geurs has selected the dissertation for its scientific quality, originality, and societal relevance.
Rodrigo Victoriano-Habit received his PhD from the School of Urban Planning, McGill University in Canada in July 2025. The thesis is titled “Triggers of travel behavior change: From abrupt disruptions to lasting effects”, and was supervised by professor Ahmed El-Geneidy. In his dissertation, Rodrigo employed advanced panel data methods and natural experiment designs to isolate causal inferences from complex temporal data.
NECTAR PhD Award 2024
The winner of the 5th NECTAR PhD Award was Bogdan Kapatsila, awarded during the NECTAR international conference in Brussels, July 3-5, 2024. The price was awarded to the best PhD thesis in the NECTAR domain of research defended between July 2022 and June 2024. The nominated dissertations for the fifth NECTAR PhD Award were evaluated by a committee chaired by Prof. dr. Juan Carlos Martín, Universidad de Las Palmas, Spain.
The thesis titled “The Use of Behavioural Insights for Crowding Management on Public Transit,” supervised by Dea van Lierop, Utrecht University, was highly valued by the Jury for its scientific quality, originality, and societal relevance. The thesis examined the preferences of different public transport users’ profiles to gain insights into developing first-best policy interventions.
NECTAR PhD Award 2022
The 4th NECTAR PhD Award recipient is Jeroen Bastiaanssen. He received the award during the NECTAR international conference, July 20-22, 2022. Toronto, Canada. The price was awarded to the best PhD thesis in the NECTAR domain of research defended between June 2019 and June 2022. The nominated dissertations were evaluated by a committee chaired by Prof. dr. Juan Carlos Martín, Universidad de Las Palmas, Spain.
Jeroen Bastiaanssen received his PhD from the Institute of Transport Studies, University of Leeds. The dissertation was is titled “Youth Mobility and Access to Economic Opportunities’, and was supervised by Karen Lucas and Paul Timms. The Jury highly appreciated that the PhD thesis aimed to enhance policy understanding of the relationship between public transport access and employment outcomes at the national and regional levels, with specific attention to the needs of young people. The awardee provided new methods to assess the relationship between transport and employment opportunities using spatial mismatch theory, agglomeration economies, accessibility and social exclusion to enhance the understanding of the topic. The author also used different transport and employment micro datasets and case studies comparing the outcomes in Great Britain and the Netherlands.
NECTAR PhD Award 2019
The 3rd NECTAR PhD Award was given to Dr. Joram Langbroek at the 2019 NECTAR conference in Helsinki, June 5-7, 2019. The nominated dissertations for the third NECTAR PhD Award, all defended between June 2017 and May 2019, were evaluated by a committee chaired by Professor Aura Reggiani from the University of Bologna, and former NECTAR chair.
Joram Langbroek received his PhD from The KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm. His thesis Supervisors were Joel Franklin and Yusak Susilo. The PhD thesis was titled “Understanding Processes and Travel Behaviour Changes Connected to Electric Vehicle Adoption”. The Jury highly appreciated, in this PhD thesis, the richness of the fundamental methods and models from transport economics, linked also with socio-psychological theories. The dissertation presented a multidisciplinary approach, combining travel behaviour, environmental science, transport economics and policy, social psychology, and energy systems, with the aim to understand the adoption and use of EV considered as product innovation, in the light of coherent policy strategies in the short, middle and long term.
NECTAR PhD Award 2017
The 2nd NECTAR PhD Award was given to Cyrille Médard de Chardon for his thesis ‘A Geographical Analysis of Bicycle Sharing Systems’, during the 2017 NECTAR conference in Madrid, May 31st -2nd of June 2017. The nominated dissertations for the second NECTAR PhD Award, all defended between June 2015 and May 2017, were evaluated by a committee chaired by Professor Erik Verhoef from VU University Amsterdam.
Cyrille Médard de Chardon received his dissertation from the Université de Luxembourg and the Université Catholique de Louvain. His dissertation supervisors were Geoffrey Caruso, Université de Luxembourg, and Isabelle Thomas, Université Catholique de Louvain. This thesis evaluates the performance of bicycle sharing systems (BSS). The thesis work covers data collection and preparation, trip estimation, an evaluation of rebalancing strategies (getting used bicycles at the best location for the next user), an evaluation of the determinants of success of bicycle sharing systems, and offers a critical perspective on bicycle sharing systems from the viewpoints of politics, business and society.
NECTAR PhD Award 2015
The first NECTAR PhD Award was given to Niklas Arvidsson at the 2015 NECTAR conference (June 15-16, 2015) in Ann Arbor, United States. The price was awarded to the best PhD thesis in the NECTAR domain of research defended between January 2013 and June 2015. The nominated dissertations were evaluated by a committee chaired by Professor Peter Nijkamp, NECTAR founder and the first NECTAR president.
Niklas Arvidsson received his PhD from the University of Gothenburg. The title of his PhD dissertation was: “Essays on Operational Freight Transport Efficiency and Sustainability”. His thesis supervisors were Johan Woxenius and Anna Nagurney. The author introduces the new concept of operational freight transport efficiency. A particularly challenging conclusion is that – although most operational freight transport efficiency improvement measures are likely to reduce emissions – it is probable that more cost-reduction measures will not lead to reduced emissions in the long term.
