Transport resilience for an uncertain world.
TRANSFORM builds a smart estimate-then-optimize framework that connects real-time decisions to long-term investments in multimodal urban mobility.
Uncertainty
Dynamic, multi-source quantification of disruptions — embedded directly inside the optimization loop.
Behaviour
User-centric multimodal trip menus with choice parameters that adapt as new mobility solutions enter the network.
Resilience
Iterative optimization bridging operational, tactical, and strategic timescales so disruptions inform investments.
What is TRANSFORM?
Multimodal passenger networks face constant pressure from new technologies, shifting business models, and growing urban density. Yet today's transport systems are designed in silos — real-time disruption insight rarely informs long-term investment.
TRANSFORM is a five-year ERC research programme that develops the first scientifically grounded framework to bridge those silos — coordinating operators, infrastructure authorities, and travellers through three integrated pillars.
Hosted at TU Delft, led by Associate Professor Shadi Sharif Azadeh, with a team of three PhD researchers and two postdoctoral fellows.
One horizon. Three coordinated objectives.
Traditional transport planning treats minutes and decades as separate problems. TRANSFORM unites them on a single decision axis.
What we will deliver.
Three interlocking objectives — each closing a gap in current transport science.
Multimodal supply management under uncertainty
Real-time probabilistic forecasting of resource availability integrated into centralized optimization for service scheduling.
Demand management & behavioural adaptation
A user-centric multimodal trip recommender built on assortment optimization — re-calibrated whenever new mobility services appear.
Network adaptation & expansion under uncertainty
Interpretable probabilistic predictions built on Bayesian networks feeding a strategic adaptation model respecting daily operational reality.
How the research is organised.
Four work packages — three vertical objectives plus a cross-cutting uncertainty workbench.
Uncertainty quantification & impact assessment
Cross-cutting work that identifies uncertainty sources and powers TRANSSim, a new multi-agent simulator extending MaaSSim with network adaptation and centralized trip recommendation across temporal scales. WP0 underpins all three vertical work packages, providing shared tools and validated uncertainty models.
TRANSSim — a multi-agent testbed for the whole programme.
TRANSSim extends the open-source MaaSSim platform with two new layers: a network adaptation component and a centralized multimodal trip recommender.
Use cases will be calibrated on multi-source mobility data from the Netherlands, Germany and Norway.
Where TRANSFORM is being tested.
Multi-source mobility data secured across three European cities.
Coordinated multimodal recommender systems integrating fixed-line transit with shared micromobility.
Disruption-resilient multimodal scheduling, focusing on delay propagation across rail, bus, and shared modes.
Long-term network adaptation under weather-driven uncertainty, including electrified fleets and mobility hubs.
Leading the programme.
Shadi Sharif Azadeh
Shadi co-founded and co-directs the Sustainable Urban Multimodal Mobility (SUM) Lab at TU Delft. Her research sits at the intersection of operations research, transportation engineering, and behavioural modelling.
She holds a PhD in operations research from Polytechnique Montréal, has been a visiting scholar at MIT and Georgia Tech, and was a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at EPFL. Recent recognitions include the INFORMS Early Career Award and a Meritorious Service Award from Transportation Science.
Postdoctoral fellows
Two postdoctoral researchers leading WP0 and cross-cutting methodology.
PhD researchers
Three doctoral researchers each leading one vertical work package.
Latest from the programme.
Project milestones, paper releases, and team announcements will appear here as the work progresses.
TRANSFORM kick-off planned for autumn 2026.
The five-year programme will begin with WP0 and recruitment of the first postdoctoral fellow alongside the three PhD researchers.
Read more →Recruitment for three PhD positions opening soon.
Across WP1–WP3 the programme is seeking researchers in operations research, transport modelling, and behavioural econometrics.
Read more →Foundational paper on choice-driven service network design.
A key precursor to WP2's trip-recommender framework — building on a decade of choice-based optimization work.
Read more →Interested in collaborating with TRANSFORM?
The programme welcomes industry partners, public-transport operators, and academic collaborators. Get in touch with the PI.