Our motivation

How can we shape mobility to foster a good life while safeguarding the environment and climate? This central question drives the research of the T3 Transportation Think Tank. A sustainable future—with thriving urban and rural spaces, reduced environmental impact, enhanced traffic safety, and climate crisis mitigation—demands a fundamental transformation in how we move.

Our work aims to build robust evidence for the potential of sustainable mobility and to derive actionable, science-based recommendations. A key focus of our research is the pivotal role of bicycles in advancing the transition toward sustainable transport and mobility.

Our team

We are a think tank working on facilitating the transformation of transport. We work independently and transparently. In our research, we adhere to the German Research Foundation’s guidelines to ensure good scientific practice. Our common passion is scientific work which helps advancing sustainable mobility. Our disciplines are geography, spatial planning and applied cultural sciences.

Frederic is the director of T3. He studied spatial planning at the University of Dortmund and did his PhD at the University of Wuppertal on the promotion of e-bikes as a means of promoting low-carbon mobility. He joined T3 to broaden his research scope to economic geography. His current research focuses on location factors in the German bicycle industry.

Rafael is mobility project manager at the city of Schaffhausen and unsalaried associate of T3. His work focuses on the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to systematically resolve diverse spatial problems. In his ph.d. he investigated potentials and limitations of geoinformation obtained in the context of Citizen Science.

Nils teaches at the University of Freiburg where he also did his PhD. His research focuses on climate change impacts, vulnerability and adaptive capacity of natural and human systems. He supports the applied research of T3 by collecting, analysing and visualising (geo)data at the nexus of climate, mobility and societal change.

Janina is a researcher in the Mobility and Space Research Group at the ILS Institute for Regional and Urban Development Research in Dortmund. She completed her PhD at Leuphana University Lüneburg on the everyday mobility of people with a migration background. She supports T3 with surveys and analyses on sustainable mobility and cycling promotion.

The institute

The first concept of the T3 Transportation Think Tank was designed in 2018 by Professor Stefan Gössling. Subsequently, T3 was founded in 2021 by him, JobRad founder Ulrich Prediger and the industry association Zukunft Fahrrad. The T3 continues to cooperate with Stefan Gössling in research projects. Zukunft Fahrrad is the sole shareholder.

We finance our work through project-based funding from public and private clients, as well as donations from companies mainly from the cycling industry that place a high value on evidence-based research.

The Institute and its partners contribute to the realisation of the vision of a climate-neutral, environmentally friendly, healthy, affordable and flexible transport system. With our scientific expertise, we initiate the necessary changes in politics and society in a solution-oriented way.