Dr. Psyllidis, A.

Achilleas Psyllidis is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering.

Academic Background

I am an Assistant Professor of Location Intelligence and Spatial Analysis at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft). I am also an affiliate of the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS Institute), where I lead the Social Urban Data Lab, and am co-PI of the Urban Data Science research program. I am further affiliated with the Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Center for BOLD (Big, Open, and Linked Data) Cities.

My research focuses on location analysis of activities with the use of advanced spatial data science techniques and large-scale geospatial data. More specifically, I investigate the interdependencies between the spatial structure of land uses, urban form, and people's activity patterns and preferences. I develop novel location analysis methods, models, and tools, by bringing together location theory, regional science and urban economics methods, with cutting-edge spatial analysis techniques and fine-grained location data. More recently, I investigate how spatially-distributed exposures to various factors of the built environment affect health behaviors and outcomes. I serve as work-package leader in two Horizon 2020 research and innovation projects on this subject (i.e. Equal-Life & PERISCOPE), and as coordinator of the Social Distancing Dashboard research project, bringing together a team of researchers from TU Delft and MIT Senseable City Lab.

With a better understanding of the interrelationships between city form and people’s dynamics, I believe that we can enhance our capacity to design more functional, resilient, and lively cities.

Before joining the Industrial Design Engineering faculty, I was a postdoctoral researcher within the Web Information Systems (WIS) group, at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, and Computer Science (EEMCS), TU Delft, between 2016 and 2019. I hold a PhD in Spatial Data Science from TU Delft (2016), as a scholar of the Onassis Foundation, the European Union Social Fund (ESF), the Greek State Scholarships Foundation, the Foundation for  Education and European Culture, and the A.G. Leventis Foundation. My thesis explored how the combination of new forms of urban data could transform our understanding of daily urban dynamics and human activity behavior. I have also served as research affiliate of the Joint Research Center for Spatial Information (Wuhan University & TU Delft), and of the Joint Research Center for Urban Systems and Environment (South China University of Technology & TU Delft).

Education

• 2012 – 2016
  PhD in Spatial Data Science, Delft University of Technology. Thesis: "Revisiting Urban Dynamics through Social Urban Data"
• 2009 – 2011
  MPhil in Spatial Planning (Summa Cum Laude, Highest GPA), National Technical University of Athens
• 2001 – 2007
  Dipl. Eng. (equivalent to MSc) in Architectural Engineering (Summa Cum Laude, Highest GPA), National Technical University of Athens

Experience

• 2020 – Present
  Assistant Professor of Location Intelligence and Spatial Analysis
  Knowledge and Intelligence Design group, Industrial Design Engineering faculty, Delft University of Technology
• 2016 – Present
  Research Fellow and Head of the Social Urban Data Lab (SUDL), Urban Data and Intelligence, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS)
• 2016 – Present
  Research Affiliate, Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Center for BOLD (Big, Open, Linked Data) Cities
• 2016 – 2019
  Postdoctoral Researcher, Web Information Systems group, faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, and Computer Science, Delft University of Technology
• 2017 – 2018
  Research Affiliate, Joint Research Center for Spatial Information, Delft University of Technology and Wuhan University
• 2014 – 2016
  Research Affiliate, Joint Research Center for Urban Systems and Environment, Delft University of Technology and South China University of Technology
• 2012 – 2016
  PhD Researcher, faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology
• 2012 – 2013
  Lecturer on Future Cities, The Why Factory, MVRDV and the Urbanism department of the faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology
• 2010 – 2012
  Assistant Lecturer, Urban & Regional Planning, and Building Science Labs, National Technical University of Athens