ImAFUSA

We are delighted to have just completed a very productive and energising plenary meeting in Manchester! During the meeting, partners in the ImAFUSA project came together to discuss ongoing work, aligning on research concerning the development environmental and socio-economic impact indicators with regard to Urban Air Mobility (UAM). The project is entering the final stretch to incorporate these indicators into tools and simulations that will assist policymakers and stakeholders in understanding how to ensure UAM technologies can be adopted while maximising social acceptance and benefit. A huge thank you to partner The University of Salford for the exceptional organisation and hosting, and to our entire consortium for their hard work and contributions: Iscte - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa & BRU- Iscte | Future Needs | KTH Royal Institute of Technology | Delft University of Technology | ICCS - NTUA  | Municipality of Egaleo | AgentFly Technologies Looking forward to the developments to come! #UAM #Innovation

📺 Here’s an excerpt from our interview with Anna Palaiologk, a key member of the ImAFUSA team and a research consultant and transport economist at Future Needs (full interview in the comments). Future Needs has been involved in the project from its inception, having been instrumental in developing the original project proposal and consortium and playing an important role in the project’s research activities. Interested to learn more about how Anna is working to ensure environmental and socio-economic impacts are taken into account when planning for the rise urban air mobility? 🚁 See the comments below for the full interview! 👇 #UrbanAirMobility #Socioeconomics #Innovation

How do people feel about drones and air taxis in our cities? 🚁 Sophia Kalakou from Iscte - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa — coordinator and researcher of the ImAFUSA project—shares how the team is tackling a crucial challenge: understanding public perceptions of urban air mobility (UAM). ImAFUSA, supported by SESAR Joint Undertaking, is developing an impact assessment framework to help local authorities and stakeholders evaluate how citizens view these technologies. Key innovations include new tools to understand the public acceptance and willingness to pay for urban air mobility (UAM). 📊 By creating new indicators and databases that capture public attitudes, ImAFUSA is filling a critical knowledge gap. 🎥 Watch the video & tell us in the comments: What do you think the biggest hurdles are to urban air mobility gaining widespread public acceptance? Video produced by Future Needs, Dissemination Leader for the ImAFUSA project.

🚨 For all those interested in issues around social acceptance of Unmanned Aerial Systems and Urban Aerial Mobility, don't miss our free webinar tomorrow, part of the SESAR Joint Undertaking U-space Webinar Series! 👀 You'll get to hear from ImAFUSA researchers and leading experts in the field including: Sophia Kalakou - Iscte - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa Anna Palaiologk - Future Needs Antonio José Torija Martínez - The University of Salford Sotiris Xydis - ICCS - NTUA Don't miss out! #UAS #UAM

Welcome to the 4th edition of the ImAFUSA Newsletter! ImAFUSA has officially moved our newsletter to LinkedIn in order to make it easier to engage with our followers. If you have been receiving our newsletters via email, do make sure to subscribe again here so you don't miss out! In this edition you will find updates on: ✅ #AviationTwinTransition (ATT) Cluster, welcoming AIRSHIP PROJECT, COLOSSUS project, Di-Pegasus, and E-CONTRAIL project to the initiative ✅ The ATT Clustering Event in Athens on July 29-30 and how to register - don't miss out! ✅ Participation in conferences including the SESAR Joint Undertaking Annual Conference 2025 and the Towards Sustainable Aviation Summit (TSAS) 2025 where Anna Palaiologk from Future Needs presented a new ImAFUSA paper; ✅ ImAFUSA's participation in the ENGAGE 2 Winter School attended by Thanos Arvanitidis and Helena Almeida; ✅ Our Virtual Reality Open Day in Lisbon hosted by our researchers at Iscte - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa including Sophia Kalakou, Helena Almeida, Margarida Lopes, Francisco Aniceto, and João Guerreiro. Follow the link to catch up on our news and make sure to subscribe and share to help ImAFUSA shape the future of European aviation!

It has been very exciting to see the #AviationTwinTransition Cluster take shape and engage with the other cluster members as we plan our first joint webinar in June 2025 led by Di-Pegasus. Then on July 29-30 cluster members the RefMap Project will be hosting an in person event in Athens. This will be a gathering of experts, industry leaders, researchers and policymakers working towards sustainable and digital transformation in the aviation and Urban Air Mobility (UAM) sectors. More updates coming soon! Thank you to all the cluster members RefMap Project, Di-Pegasus, AIRSHIP PROJECT, COLOSSUS project and E-CONTRAIL project for the great work and discussions so far!

SAVE THE DATE! 📅 As part of the SESAR Joint Undertaking U-space Webinar Series, the ImAFUSA team will deliver a dedicated session introducing the Impact and Capacity Assessment Framework for U-space Societal Acceptance. This framework expands on existing impact assessment methodologies and provides a platform with tools to evaluate the environmental, safety, societal, and economic impacts of Innovative Air Mobility (IAM). This will support local authorities, urban planners, air navigation providers and other stakeholders make informed decisions as innovative aerial services become more widespread. The webinar is sponsored by EUROCONTROL and is free to attend. 🔗 Register via the link in the comments. AGENDA • Introduction to ImAFUSA Framework – Sophia Kalakou, Iscte - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, BRU- Iscte • Socio-economic Indicators – Anna Palaiologk, Future Needs • Environmental Indicators – Antonio José Torija Martínez, The University of Salford • ImAFUSA Software Implementation of IAM Indicators & Analytics – Sotiris Xydis, ICCS - NTUA Join us online on April 3rd – we look forward to seeing you there!

The aviation field has long been a male-dominated industry, but times are changing. More and more female researchers are making their mark, bringing fresh perspectives and innovation. Our partner Anna Palaiologk from Future Needs highlights the power of diversity: “It’s not about who is smarter, but about polyphony—different voices coming together to solve challenges in new ways.” On this International Women’s Day, we celebrate the women reshaping aviation and beyond! #IWD #WomenInAviation

It was great to have participated in SESAR JU Annual Conference 2025! 🚁 It was a fantastic opportunity to attend the speeches for Sesar's future, learn about latest research outcomes and present BRU- Iscte work on visual pollution with James McLeod. Thank you (Margarida Lopes, James McLeod, Francisco Aniceto, Margarida Santos, Sophia Kalakou, Sofia Samoili) for contributing to this innovative work! ImAFUSA was represented by ISCTE and Future Needs, thank you all (Anna Palaiologk, Pavlos Zafiropoulos, Kyriaki Daskaloudi, Nikoleta Krousouloudi). #SJUAnnual25 #ImAFUSA #UrbanAirMobility #ATM #Innovation

🌍✈️ The #ImAFUSA project crossed the Atlantic to present at FIA2024 in Santiago, Chile! 🇨🇱 At the XIII Congress of the Ibero-American Federation of Acoustics, Antonio José Torija Martínez from the University of Salford Acoustics Research Centre delivered a plenary session on: "Development of psychoacoustic models for annoyance prediction of drone noise." Understanding how we perceive and experience drone noise is key to fostering social acceptance of urban air mobility (UAM) systems and shaping future aviation policies. ImAFUSA is proud to contribute to this crucial discussion on psychoacoustics, aeroacoustics, and noise perception. #Drone #Noise #Psychoacoustics #Perception #Aeroacoustics #FIA2024 #Acoustics #HearingTheFuture