Join Our Innovative Research Team! We are on the lookout for exceptional PhD candidates who are driven by curiosity and innovation and have strong interests in agentic mobility, feedback control, advanced computing, and human-AI interactions. Launch your fully-funded PhD journey with us in January or September 2026, where you will not only contribute to cutting-edge research but also shape the future of technological and societal development. ​

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McGill University ranks 27th according to both the latest QS World Rankings​ and the Center for World University Rankings (CWUR). For why Montreal is considered a top student city in the world, see here and here.

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PhD Position 1 on Travel Surveys, Human Behaviors, & Human-AI Interactions in Transportation

• Ideal backgrounds: Bachelor’s or Master’s in transportation planning, urban studies, human factors, cognitive/behavioral psychology, bioengineering, HCI, or related fields.

• Research interests: Survey and interview methods; discrete choice and preference elicitation; human–AI interaction for transport applications (e.g., agentic survey assistants, chat-based instruments).

• Experience (any subset is welcome): Survey design/analysis, qualitative/quantitative interviewing, human–computer interaction studies, LLM-assisted instruments.

• Data and tooling: Power BI, Qualtrics, SQL, Python, R, VBA, Unity, and/or QGIS.

• Communication: Excellent English for academic writing/presentation; French proficiency is an asset.

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PhD Position 2 on Planning, Design, and Control of Future Mobility Systems

• Ideal backgrounds: Bachelor’s or Master’s in civil/electrical/mechanical engineering, operations research, or a related field.

• Research interests: Shared/automated/agentic mobility services (surface and aerial), transport electrification, infrastructure resilience, or quantitative long-term infrastructure planning under uncertainty.

• Experience (any subset is welcome): Mixed-integer programming; reinforcement learning; feedback/control theory; approximate dynamic programming, agent-based or discrete-event simulation; network/geospatial analytics.

• Skills and tooling: Python (preferred), Java, VBA, and/or cloud computing.

• Communication: Excellent command of English for academic writing and communication.​

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​​How to Apply

Please ensure you are eligible to apply based on the information on the McGill Admission Portal and the departmental admission details and deadlines. Before applying, please consider notifying Prof. Jiangbo Yu with an email titled “PhD Applicant-[Last Name, First Name]” with your background, referee contacts, and preliminary research plan.