News, media & events

Rail freight and passenger transport is expected to continue to grow. This poses risks to the safety of rail workers, passengers and people living near railways. To prevent accidents and incidents, a well-functioning safety management system is essential. Bart Accou, TU Delft PhD student and Head of Safety & Operations at the European Union Agency for Railways, developed a new method to investigate incidents and accidents in a structured way: SAfety FRactal ANalysis (SAFRAN).

Within the Defence organisation, safety is paramount. To ensure this safety, employees are expected to work according to protocols. Research by TU Delft PhD student and Aviation psychologist Leonie Boskeljon shows that for employees in the field, working according to rules does not always improve safety and effectiveness.

Road accidents cause more than 1.35 million fatalities per year globally. The UN and European Union want to eliminate these traffic fatalities. The newly awarded Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions (MSCA) Doctoral Network ‘IVORY’ addresses this goal and will kick-off in September 2023. It will set up an industrial doctorates network to develop a new framework for optimal integration of AI in road safety research, and train a new generation of leading researchers in the field. Eleonora Papadimitriou of the TPM faculty of TU Delft is the leading scientist and will be coordinating the network. Other TPM researchers that are involved are Amir Pooyan Afghari, Filippo Santoni de Sio and Pieter van Gelder.

With its seed funding program, the TU Delft Safety & Security Institute aims to increase the impact of safety & security research and education at TU Delft and to strengthen the position of TU Delft in this field. In this series of 'coffee chats', we talk to the project leaders to find out what is happening.

On the recommendation of Minister Jetten for Climate and Energy, the Dutch government has approved the appointment of nine new members of the Scientific Climate Council (WKR). Among them are TU Delft researchers Kornelis Blok and Behnam Taebi. The council advises the government on climate policy, based on independent scientific expertise.

Many people now believe that there is a significant risk of an existential catastrophe befalling humanity within the next century. Assuming this conviction is well-founded, how should we respond?

After months of smaller events, lots of networking, and building momentum for Health & Care at TPM, we are now ready to officially launch the Institute for Health Systems Science.