Sujit Kumar Sikder

Sujit Kumar Sikder is a Senior Scientist at the Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development (IOER) in Dresden, Germany, where he works in the Research Area - Spatial Information and Modeling (FBM) and Research Data Centre (IOER-RDC). He has held research positions at the University of Bonn, Germany, and the United Nations University, Bonn, Germany. His academic background includes a PhD in Engineering from the University of Bonn and a Master of Science from the Technical University of Munich.

Dr. Sikder's educational background includes a PhD in Engineering from the University of Bonn (2012-2017), a Master of Science in Land Management and Geospatial Science from the Technical University of Munich (2009-2011), and a Bachelor of Urban and Rural Planning from Khulna University, Bangladesh (2001-2005).

His research focuses on exploring actionable insights to advance pathways toward a net-zero future through an integrated perspective on land use, energy, and mobility systems. His work spans Urban Science, Spatial Transformation, Spatial Analysis, Hybrid Modelling, Geocomputation, Open Data, and Data Management. Dr. Sikder employs interdisciplinary approaches to understand urban systems, with particular attention to both the Global North and Global South contexts. He has developed frameworks for adopting global open data in local urban development and has conducted extensive research on urban spatial transformation during the pandemic era.

Dr. Sikder serves as Area Co-Editor for the Journal of Data & Policy and as Guest Associate Editor for Frontiers in Sustainable Cities. He is also a reviewer for numerous international journals including Nature, PLOS ONE, and Frontiers in Sustainable Cities, and reviews research grant proposals for the Economic and Social Research Council and UK Research and Innovation.

His scientific achievements include a Doctoral Fellowship from KAAD, a Post-graduate Fellowship from DAAD, a Jury Award for Innovative Ideas on retrofitting privately owned buildings in Frankfurt, and an International Conference Travel Grant. He is a member of several professional organizations including the German Association for Geodesy, Geoinformation and Land Management (DVW), the German Research Data Alliance (RDA), and the Bangladesh Association of Planners (BIP).

Dr. Sikder coordinates multiple research projects including SoRa (DFG-funded) and OpenGeoEdu (BMVI funded). His work bridges academic research with practical urban planning applications, emphasizing data-driven decision making for sustainable urban development. He has developed methodologies for linking survey and spatial data to enable interdisciplinary research and has contributed to understanding urban spatial transformation dynamics in both pandemic and post-pandemic contexts.