Interview with the new mobility manager

March 25, 2021

Laura Schlowak has taken up the newly-created position of mobility manager, and tells us in an interview what her job involves.

The new position of mobility manager contributes towards structurally incorporating and institutionalizing sustainability concerns at the University of Stuttgart, which play an important role in the new SEPUS in particular. Some important objectives from the University include the car-free campus and achieving climate neutrality by 2030, which is set to be achieved as part of the flagship project Mobility Living Lab (MobiLab).

Laura Schlowak is the new mobility manager at the University of Stuttgart.

Laura Schlowak has been the mobility manager at the University of Stuttgart since January. She studied Mechanical Engineering at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and Political Science at the Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich (LMU). During her master’s degree she specialized in sustainable mobility. Issues of sustainability remain important to Laura Schlowak even outside her work at the University. “So I’m very happy that I can get involved here and contribute ideas. It’s important to me to develop real solutions and create cool new services.”

We present Laura Schlowak and her new job in the interview below.

What kind of tasks does your job involve?

I want to expand the range of mobility offers available to students and employees at the University of Stuttgart in a sustainable way. This refers to people’s commute to work or to their studies, as well as pathways on campus and business trips. I am also the contact person for students and members of staff for any questions they might have about this topic. We want to bring everybody together who wants to get involved and to increase participation.

Where is the job based? What interfaces are there to other departments?

My job is based in the Office of the Rectorate, but there are plenty of interfaces with the Engineering and Constructions Division and the MobiLab project. MobiLab works in a relatively strategic way and a lot of what they do is still visionary, while what I do is often very specific by comparison. I also help out in the Green Office, which is currently being created as a sustainability platform at the University.

Bike-friendliness is a topic which is important to members of staff at the University as well as to students.

What kind of topics are you working on at the moment?

Bike friendliness is a major issue, something that was also made clear from the survey which was recently carried out. A lot of respondents said that they wanted new places to park their bikes which were theft-proof and under cover. We are now examining whether to introduce bicycle support stands, covered bicycle racks or bicycle boxes. There are also plans to hold a Pedelec week for employees this year, for which we are making a little fleet of Pedelec bikes available. Employees will have the chance to try out riding a Pedelec to and from work for a week as well as for private use.

Another topic which I’m working on at the moment is how we can cut down on business trips and make sure that trips which cannot be avoided are made more sustainable. It is becoming clear during these times in particular that many business trips can be replaced by online meetings.

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