About the endowed professorship
The endowed professorship for cycling at Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, held by Prof. Dr. Claudia Hille since the summer semester 2024, examines cycling primarily from a social science perspective. It is funded by the Federal Ministry of Transport with a budget of around 1.7 million euros until August 2027 and is currently comprised of a team of four academic staff members.
The team provides teaching on the specialization module ‚Cycling‘ in the Bachelor’s programme ‚Transport Management (B.Sc.)‘ and the Master’s programme ‚Mobility Management (M.Sc.)‘. Furthermore, it also teaches the basics of sustainable mobility as part of other modules. The teaching approach is guided by the principle of ‚active teaching for active mobility‘, incorporating regular excursions by bicycle or on foot.
In addition to teaching and research activities, key areas of activity include the transfer of research work to society, supporting the socio-ecological transformation in society by communicative measures.
Should you wish to learn more about the work of the professorship, you can download the annual report (in German) for the summer semester 2024 and the winter semester 2024/25 here.
Research areas
Research conducted at the endowed professorship addresses a range of contemporary subjects within the domain of cycling research.
The primary foci encompass:
- the relationship between social participation, mobility and mobility justice
- factors influencing cycling culture
- the potential and requirements of cargo bikes
- gender, income and intersectionality in relation to cycling
- the effects of (extreme) heat on the attractiveness of cycling for transport
Ongoing research projects
- Road safety of cargo bikes (in-house research project)
- Mobility justice, using the Deutschland-Ticket as an example (in-house research project)
- MobilKULT panel study (in-house research project in collaboration with Fraunhofer ISI)
- HITZE-RAD - Cycling in times of climate crisis: Effects of extreme heat on everyday cycling (funded by the Dr Joachim and Hanna Schmidt Foundation for Environment and Transport from September 2025)
- E-bikes in rural areas (PhD project of Laura Trost)
The team
News
- Claudia Hille appointed chair of the AGFK advisory board: On 21 July 2025, Claudia Hille took over as chair of the newly founded advisory board of the Working Group for Bicycle and Pedestrian-Friendly Communities in Baden-Württemberg (AGFK-BW). The AGFK-BW has 119 member municipalities, which are home to more than 80 per cent of the population of Baden-Württemberg. All municipalities with more than 45,000 inhabitants and two-thirds of all districts are part of the AGFK-BW.
Details AGFK
- Co-organisation of the Cycling Action Day (“Rad-Aktionstag”): On 4 June 2025, the Cycling Action Day took place at Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences and Karlsruhe University of Education. Claudia Hille and the Cycling Team offered visitors the opportunity to express their wishes regarding bicycle parking facilities on campus, suggest improvements or test their knowledge about bicycles.
Die HKA - Die Hochschule Karlsruhe: Fahrradfreundlicher Campus
- Participation in the Velo-City Conference in Gdańsk: Uta Burghard took part in the Velo-City Conference from 10 to 13 June 2025 and gave a presentation entitled ‘The bicycle as an inclusive and equitable mode of transport? Examining Gender and Income Disparities in Cycling in Germany’ during the session ‘Cycling for all? Research on social justice and the perceptions of cycling’.
Velo-city 2025 Gdansk: Tuesday Daily Report - Welcome to Gdansk - Velo-city Conference
- Organisation of AK MoVe annual conference: Claudia Hille and the bicycle team, together with KIT-ITAS and KIT-IfGG, organised the 20th annual conference of the Mobility and Transport Working Group (AK MoVe) of the German Geographical Society. The conference was entitled ‘Mobility Between Spaces: New Paths in Urban (and Rural) Areas’ and took place on 22 May 2025 at the HKA and on 23 May 2025 at KIT. Around 80 people took part.
AK MoVe annual meetings
- Media appearances Claudia Hille
- Eurobike: Wednesday 25 June 25, HR Info
- Bicycle day: 3 June 2025
Latest publications
Hille, C.; Burghard, U.; Gather, M. (2025)
Mehr als nur Fortbewegung: Wie das Deutschlandticket die soziale Teilhabe stärkt.
Internationales Verkehrswesen Heft 77/3: Verkehrsplanung, S. 23-27.
Hille, C.; Klemmer, J. (2025)
Gerechtigkeit im Kontext von Mobilität und Verkehr.
Mobility Impacts 1/2025, S. 28-29.
Burghard, U.; Helferich, M.; Hille, C.; Tröger, J.; Graf, A.; Dütschke, E. (2025)
Radfahren in Zeiten des Klimawandels – macht Hitze das Radfahren (im Alltag) unattraktiver?
DVWG Journal für Mobilität und Verkehr, Ausgabe 23 (2025), S. 22-29.
Hille, C., Rozynek, C., & Lanzendorf, M. (2024)
Eine qualitative Analyse von ausgewählten Maßnahmen zur Stärkung der Mobilität und sozialen Teilhabe von armutsgefährdeten Haushalten mit Kindern.
In C. Sommer, M. Lanzendorf, M. Engbers, & T. Wermuth (Hrsg.), Soziale Teilhabe und Mobilität (S. 227–250). Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden.
Link to publication
Hille, C. (2024)
Schaufenster in die Hochschule: Konflikten zwischen Fuß- und Radverkehr auf der Spur.
S. 51-54 in: DVR-Schriftenreihe Verkehrssicherheit: Achtsamkeit und Aggression – Befunde zu Interaktionen im Straßenverkehr, Heft 25.
Hille, C. (2024)
Von Einsamkeit zu gesellschaftlicher Teilhabe. Warum wir einen bundesweit einheitlichen Sozialtarif zum Deutschlandticket brauchen.
S. 30-31 in: Polis Mobility Magazin. Wuppertal: Verlag Müller + Bussmann GmbH & Co. KG.
Burghard, U.; Scherrer, A.; Helferich, M.; Breuer, M. (2024)
Are overhead catenary trucks perceived as legitimate and accepted?
Evidence from Germany. Transportation Research Part D 134, pp. 1-16.
Link to publication
Trost, L. (2024)
Lastenräder – Statussymbole oder ein Beitrag zur nachhaltigen Mobilität? ISOE-Blog Soziale Ökologie – Krise, Kritik, Gestaltung.
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Hüppauff, T., Müller, K., Hunecke, M., Niermann, M., Zimmermann, P., Brischke, L., Cop, C., Trost, L., Stieß, I., Rahm, M. (2024)
Die SuPraStadt-Toolbox. Praktische Anleitungen für mehr Nachhaltigkeit und Lebensqualität durch Suffizienz im Quartier. OSF Plattform.
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