Dr. Psyllidis, A.

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

Academic Background

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

Achilleas is leading the Urban Analytics  research theme within the Knowledge and Intelligence Design section. His research focuses on how the built environment interplays with human activity behaviour and related livability, well-being, and health aspects. He develops novel methods and tools and applies cutting-edge location analysis techniques to measure quantitative and qualitative factors of the built environment at a human scale and adjusted to people’s needs and characteristics. To that end, he brings together the principles of location theory and urban science with data-driven approaches to planning and design. Emphasis is on identifying and setting standards for how much of a built-environment feature leads to improved quality of life and healthy behaviours. With this, he aspires to have an impact on design for shaping cities that promote healthier lifestyles. Within this context, he serves as work-package leader in two Horizon 2020 research and innovation projects (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.

Before joining the Industrial Design Engineering faculty, he 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. He holds 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. He has 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