UGent will lead research on smart cities, intelligent systems and smart connected mobility integration. This includes UAM transitions and sustainable mobility aspects as well as decision support and legacy. UGent will also support UAM advances in path finding applications, smart city integrations with its existing MOVE smart city platform and digital twin related research. UGent will link project activities with relevant initiatives that the team is directly involved in as Civitas initiative, European Institute of Technology – Knowledge and Innovation Center (EIT-KIC) on Urban Mobility (UGent is a core member of the Institute) and European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities.

Today Ghent University attracts over 44,000 students, with a foreign student population of about 6% (40% of PhD students). In 2018, the university invested over 308 million Euros in research projects on behalf of public and private partners, and employed around 15,000 staff members (of which 6,000 belongs to the University hospital – UZ Gent). Ghent University is ranked 66th in the Shanghai and 143th in the Times ranking. The University has participated in 263 research projects in the Seventh Framework Programme, of which it coordinated 42 collaborative projects.

Up till now, Ghent University is under Horizon 2020 involved in around 270 projects, and coordinates 26 of the collaborative projects.

The university is one of the fastest growing European universities in terms of research capacity and productivity, and its commitment to European research excellence is reflected by the recent extension of the  ‘European Office’ in its Research Office, i.e. the department overseeing, guiding and administering research projects. It hosts 60 ERC grant holders (22 under FP7 and 38 under H2020) and acquired 55 Marie Skłodowska Curie fellowships (26 under FP7 and 29 under H2020). In H2020, it is involved in 46 ITN projects (8 as coordinator).

The university provides excellent training opportunities to both young and experienced researchers, for which it has been rewarded the HR Excellence in Research label by the European Commission. Ghent University awarded 689 PhD degrees in 2018 of which over 30% went to international young researchers and counts 21 highly cited authors (Clarivate) among its academic staff.

UGent endorsed Charter for Researchers & Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers in 2006.   The European Commission rewarded Ghent University’s action plan for researchers with the “HR Excellence in Research” logo in May 2014.

The UGent’s ISyE team drives innovation in Intelligent Systems Engineering in diverse markets and does this in an integrated, multi-disciplinary approach. It uses user-centric research methodology for prototyping, validating and refining complex solutions in multiple and evolving real life contexts. The research expertise ranges from hardware over software up to thematic application as big data analytics, sustainability, mobility, health, environment and smart cities. Team already has several patents relevant for UAM applications as the one on System and method for position determination (EP1972893A1) and has produced several relevant spin-off companies.  ISyE supports the Institute for Sustainable Mobility (UGent IDM) with its expertise in sustainable mobility, intelligent systems, smart mobility management solutions and urban planning decision support.