Dominic Stead: Cities that need less transport

Dominic Stead, PhD, was appointed full professor of transport and land use planning at the Department of Built Environment in Aalto University as of 1 January 2021. He is one of the leading academic researchers in this field with a multidisciplinary approach, an extensive research record and an outstanding publication record.  

Stead’s research and teaching focus on policy-making processes and sustainability related to urban transport and spatial planning. He has a strong multidisciplinary background with a doctorate in planning studies, a master's degree in environmental science and a second master's degree in town and country planning. Before starting at Aalto University, he was Associate Professor at Delft University of Technology, as well as researcher and guest professor in several leading universities in Europe and Australia.  

His research addresses pan-European topics of transport, urbanization, energy, and urban and regional governance. He has successfully co-developed and managed more than 15 large international collaborative research projects supported by a number of funding agencies including ESPON EGTC, the European Commission and the United Nations.   

Stead has more than 25 years of teaching experience. As a teacher he aims to promote critical thinking and analysis, innovation, problem solving and student interaction. 

Stead has also been a research evaluator for many funding agencies, including the European Commission, the COST Association, the Academy of Finland, the Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development, NordForsk, the Research Council of Norway, and the Latvian State Education Development Agency. He has also been a member of several scientific advisory committees for conferences.