Jordanka Kovaceva

Jordanka Kovaceva is a Researcher at Chalmers University of Technology's Division of Vehicle Safety within the Mechanics and Maritime Sciences school. She has been with the institution since 2015 and is also affiliated with the SAFER Vehicle and Traffic Safety Centre, where she leads a project focused on active safety for vulnerable road users. Her work connects with numerous EU-funded initiatives including SAFE-UP, PROSPECT, and MeBeSafe.

Her research centers on traffic safety analysis using naturalistic driving data from major international datasets including euroFOT, UDrive, and SHRP2. She specializes in developing methodologies to analyze real-world crash data with particular emphasis on vulnerable road users such as cyclists and pedestrians. Her work bridges engineering, data science, and human factors to improve active and passive safety systems. Recent efforts focus on micromobility safety, automated emergency braking systems, and the impact of infrastructure design on pedestrian safety in winter conditions.

Analysis of her publication trends shows consistent focus on vulnerable road user protection, with increasing attention to micromobility vehicles (e-scooters) in recent years. Her work combines naturalistic driving studies, simulation modeling, and real-world crash data analysis to inform safety system development. She frequently collaborates with international partners across EU projects, demonstrating strong integration of research with practical safety applications.

As a project leader within SAFER, she oversees research initiatives addressing active safety for vulnerable road users. Her funding portfolio includes multiple European Commission grants and Swedish Transport Administration projects, reflecting her prominence in traffic safety research. She actively contributes to the development of safety assessment methodologies that bridge academic research and automotive industry applications.

Her laboratory work centers around the Vehicle Safety division's facilities at Chalmers, utilizing naturalistic driving data analysis platforms and collaborating with the SAFER research center. She works within interdisciplinary teams that include engineers, data scientists, and human factors specialists to address complex traffic safety challenges through both fundamental and applied research approaches.