Francisco Javier Paez Ayuso

Francisco Javier Paez Ayuso is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Technical University of Madrid (UPM), serving as Director of the University Institute for Automobile Research (INSIA-UPM) since January 2023 after holding prior roles as Subdirector and Director De Instituto. He has led INSIA's Traffic Accidents Investigation Unit since 1993 and coordinates Master's programs in Automotive Engineering and Electric/Hybrid Vehicle Engineering.

Education:

• Predoctoral Fellowship, Ministry of Education and Science (1994-1996)
• Doctoral Thesis: "Model for predicting the occurrence of accidents on road sections by continuous measurement of influence variables" (2000, Cum Laude)

Research Interests:

Dr. Paez Ayuso specializes in traffic and vehicle safety with emphasis on vulnerable road users (VRUs), conducting in-depth accident investigations, injury mechanism analysis, and safety recommendation development through statistical analysis of macroscopic and in-depth accident databases. His VRU safety research since 2002 employs virtual reality techniques to model pre-collision behavior and evaluate active/passive safety systems, spanning accident databases, passive safety device development, and active safety effectiveness assessment.

Scientific Awards:

No specific awards, fellowships, or medals were documented in the source material.

Advising and Grants:

• Supervised doctoral thesis: A. Badea (2016), "Parametrical Study of Pedestrian Accidents Using Multivariate Models"
• Coordinates practical training for ~20 students annually as Deputy Director of Training
• Academic Commission member for PhD Program in Mechanical Engineering
• Professor-coordinator of UPMRACING Formula Student team (70 students)

Secured 42 competitive R&D projects (5 as Principal Investigator) and 38 non-competitive contracts (10 as PI), including 7 international projects across national frameworks (DPI, PROFIT, RENIT) and European programs (V Framework, ECTRI).

Labs and Teams:

• Traffic Accidents Investigation Unit at INSIA-UPM
• UPMRACING Formula Student competition team (since 2005)