Dr Shaila Jamal

As an urban researcher with training in geography and planning, Shaila brings multiple research experiences and projects to bear on transportation-related topics in North America and South Asia. Her research experience consists of her work as a postdoctoral fellow, a research coordinator, a graduate student, an independent consultant, and a researcher for a provincial health department in Canada and United Nations Development Programme in Bangladesh. Her research mostly revolves around the transportation of different socio-demographic groups, with a strong emphasis on equity and a justice-seeking population. 

Shaila was involved in a diverse range of projects funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the University of Toronto and McMaster Co-Design Hub, and other agencies. She has applied statistical modelling, machine learning, spatial analysis, thematic analysis of qualitative data, and Evidence-based Co-Design to a wide variety of transportation and mobility-related topics. These include intergenerational heterogeneity in travel behaviour, impact of smartphone use on travel behaviour, well-being implications of COVID-19 on mobility, transport-related preferences and dilemmas during COVID-19, mobilities in suburban neighbourhoods, 15-minute cities in suburban contexts, preferred amenities of different racialized communities and their accessibility, and the public image of bicycling among immigrant and racialized youths. 

Shaila's current research is supported by a Postdoctoral Fellowship from Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada. This fellowship, which she jointly holds at the University of Oxford and the University of Toronto, is dedicated to exploring the transit experiences of recent immigrant older adults in Canada. The study will delve into the facilitators and barriers of their day-to-day mobility, with a specific focus on non-English-speaking immigrants. It will assess the role of various aspects, such as organizational, institutional, cultural, social, and personal, including their social networks, in facilitating their mobility in Canada. Her research approach will involve qualitative data collection and an evidence-based Codesign approach.  

Jamal, S., & Paez, A. (2024). Exploring modal shift in non-active sustainable transport modes during the first wave of COVID-19 in Bangladesh. Multimodal Transportation, 3(2), 100130.

Jamal, S., Chowdhury, S., & Newbold, K. B. (2024). Do key informants and commuters share the same thoughts on modal shifts? Reflection from in-depth interviews conducted during COVID-19 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Cities & Health, 1-5.

Jamal, S., & Paez, A. (2024). Socio-economic and demographic differences in the impact of COVID-19 on personal travel in the Global South. Transport Reviews, 44(2), 272-298.

Jamal, S., Menon, N., & Newbold, K. B. (2023). Equity implications of COVID-19 on older adults’ mobility: Evidence and examples from South Asia. In V. Van Acker, S. Choo & Mokhtarian, P. L. (Eds.), Advances in Transport Policy and Planning, Volume 12: Part 2: Wider transport and land use impacts of COVID-19. 1-40, Elsevier. 

Jamal, S., & Paez, A. (2023). Well-being implications of immobility during COVID-19: evidence from a student sample in Bangladesh using the satisfaction with life scale. Transportation, 1-31.

See Google Scholar for full overview of publications