Dr. S. (Suzanne) Hiemstra-van Mastrigt

Dr. S. (Suzanne) Hiemstra-van Mastrigt

Profile

Suzanne Hiemstra is the director of the Seamless Personal Mobility Lab. She is interested in developing human-centered mobility systems and services to create a seamless travel experience. Examples include Mobility as a Service (MaaS), shared autonomous vehicles and the air-rail transition. Suzanne also supervises and coaches students during research and graduation projects, and teaches different courses on mobility, human factors and user-centred research and design.

Academic background

Suzanne has always been fascinated by transport and mobility. Before becoming a Delft Design Lab director, Suzanne contributed to the European H2020 project PASSME (Personalised Airport Systems for Seamless Mobility and Experience) as a post-doctoral researcher at TU Delft’s faculty of Industrial Design Engineering. The goal of the PASSME project was to reduce travel time at the airport and enhance passenger experience by, among others, developing innovative designs for future airports and aircrafts.

Suzanne also performed her PhD research project on the topic of Comfortable Passenger Seats – Recommendations for Design and Research. During these four years, she was working at TNO (the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research), and working together with seat manufacturers, car manufacturers, railways, airlines and material suppliers, to conduct experiments on passenger comfort.

More academic background

Publications

Courses 2024

Media

More media

Prizes

  • 2022-5

    Best Paper Presentation Award, Korean Society of Transportation Conference


    Read more Best Paper Presentation Award, Korean Society of Transportation Conference
  • 2018

    Finalist for the Crystal Cabin Awards

    Finalist for the Crystal Cabin Awards with the PASSME Innovative Aircraft Seat Concept
    Shortlisted for the Crystal Cabin Awards with the SLS Optimus (University Category)

    Read more Finalist for the Crystal Cabin Awards
  • 2017

    VIVA400 Award nominee


    Read more VIVA400 Award nominee
  • 2016-11

    Best Dissertation in the field of Ergonomics and Human Factors in the Period of 2013 - 2016

    For her PhD thesis on Comfortable Passenger Seats, Suzanne received the Best Dissertation award from the Dutch Ergonomics Society Human Factors NL.

    According to the jury, "the doctoral thesis of Ms. S. Hiemstra-Mastrigt excels in a clear manner. Its treatment of the chosen, multifaceted issue is very systematic, professional and often original. She therefore is master in theory and practice and has given a valuable example through a coherent set of heterogeneous studies and recommendations."

    Further feedback from the jury report described how it provides a "systematic overview of the design, acquisition and usage problems of the sitting supports for passengers in planes, trains and automobiles. With several, mostly small-scale practical and laboratory investigations, it extends the professional understanding of this area. The presentation of the content is attractive and very organized."

    The jury assessed the entries for the Human Ergonomics dissertation prize based on adequate coherence between problem and conduct of the study, good data analysis and scientific discussion of the results, amongst other criteria.
    Human Factors NL Congres 2016

    Read more Best Dissertation in the field of Ergonomics and Human Factors in the Period of 2013 - 2016
More prizes

Ancillary activities