Dr Janak Parmar PhD

• Ph.D. in Territory, Innovation and Sustainability, Università Niccolò Cusano, 2025
• M.E. in Civil – Highway and Transportation Engineering, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, 2019
• B.E. in Civil Engineering, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, 2017

Dr Janak has joined the University of Birmingham in 2026 as MSCA Postdoctoral fellow. His project, EMBARK (Electrifying Mobility: Behaviour, Analytics, Regulation, and Knowledge for Decarbonisation), examines how individual travel and charging behaviour, electricity and carbon markets, and emerging business models jointly shape the uptake of electric vehicles and vehicle-to-grid technology. Combining stated-preference surveys, behavioural choice modelling, and agent-based simulation, the project aims to identify V2G business models and policy designs that balance benefits for users, operators, and the wider energy system.

Janak completed his PhD in Territory, Innovation and Sustainability at the University of Niccolò Cusano, Rome (2022–2025), graduating with “Excellent”, the highest grade in the Italian system. His doctoral research investigated the adoption of shared electric mobility and its impacts on travel behaviour, taking the UK as a case study. It combined a Delphi-based fuzzy multi-criteria analysis of barriers and solutions, structural equation modelling of adoption intentions grounded in the Theory of Planned Behaviour and the Technology Acceptance Model, and a hybrid latent-class latent-variable choice model capturing heterogeneity in commuters' willingness to switch to shared electric modes. As part of his PhD, he spent six months at the University of Birmingham as a visiting researcher in 2023, where he developed stated preference and attitudinal survey instruments and led undergraduate seminars in contemporary human geography.

Coming from Gujarat, India, Janak holds a Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering and a Master's in Highway and Transportation Engineering (Distinction), both from The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. His Master's research, conducted at the CSIR–Central Road Research Institute in New Delhi, applied machine learning and multi-criteria methods to parking behaviour and level-of-service assessment, contributing to a land-use-based parking policy study for Delhi. Before moving to Italy, he worked for two years as a Project Engineer at Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology (SVNIT), Surat, where he worked on the design and feasibility assessment of BRT bus stations, coordinated the scrutiny of detailed project reports for around 4,000 km of rural roads under the Government of India's PMGSY-III programme, contributed to road safety training and consultancy, and mentored four postgraduate dissertations.

His research interests span travel behaviour modelling, transport electrification and energy system decarbonisation, parking and transport demand management, and the influence of attitudes, habits, and other latent factors on mobility choices. Methodologically, he specialises in econometric and behavioural analysis – including discrete choice and hybrid choice models, structural equation modelling, latent class and clustering techniques, machine learning, and multi-criteria decision analysis – complemented by qualitative approaches such as Delphi studies, expert interviews, and stakeholder engagement. He designs systematic revealed- and stated-preference surveys to underpin these models, translating behavioural evidence into policy-relevant insights for city authorities and transport planners.

Dr Janak provides supervision to some postgraduate and PhD students within the group. He is interested in travel behaviour modelling, smart and sustainable mobility, transport electrification, parking and transport demand management, and the role of attitudes and other latent factors (e.g., habit/inertia) in mobility choices.

He has previously supervised master’s dissertations on intercity travel demand modelling, parking demand modelling, multimodal mode choice, and public transport choice behaviour.

Electrifying Mobility: Behaviour, Analytics, Regulation, and Knowledge for Decarbonisation (EMBARK), Funded by European Commission under Horizon Europe – Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship scheme

Investigating the adaptability of shared electric mobility system and their impacts on travel behaviour patterns, PhD project (self-proposed) funded by MIUR Italy and Unicusano.

Land-use based parking policy: a case study of Delhi, Funded by CSRI – CRRI India.