Transport stakeholders today face the dual challenges of ensuring our networks fit the changing needs of populations and businesses as we emerge from the Covid-19 crisis, and achieving the transformations necessary to substantially reduce carbon emissions.
Speaking during our first Northern Evidence Academic Forum, academics highlighted the need for increased cooperation between academia and policymakers on these issues, for a greater understanding of society’s readiness for change, and for new evidence on unforeseen impacts of infrastructure on affected populations.
The first Northern Evidence Academic Forum was held last month, and we were joined by over 100 academics and researchers from across the UK.
The aim of the Forum is to be a space where academics and researchers can shape new research projects, share findings, collaborate, and influence policy, and it was great to see such a high level of interest and participation from the outset.
The first Forum featured speakers from the University of Leeds, University of Sheffield, and Manchester Metropolitan University, as well as an introduction to policy, data analysis, and research at Transport for the North.
For us here at Transport for the North, improved links with academia mean we have a greater understanding of, and access to, new and emerging research connected to themes such as reducing regional economic inequalities, enhancing productivity outside of current economic centres, and ensuring the transport system is social inclusive and fits the needs of the population.
As Professor Philip McCann described, these themes and the broader ‘levelling up’ agenda are increasingly prominent, and are only likely to become more so in the context of climate change, the UK’s exit from the European Union, and the shocks generated by the Covid-19 pandemic. In this context, increasing collaboration between fields of academia and between academia and policy is increasingly important.
Alongside regional inequality and local decision-making, the first Forum also addressed the need for decarbonisation of the transport network, and the significance of this to the UK Government’s commitments to achieve net zero carbon by 2050.
Professor Greg Marsden set out the scale of cuts to emissions required to achieve these targets, and the emerging gap between the current pace of reductions and the trajectory required in the transport sector.
This presentation also highlighted the need to consider societal readiness and the capacity to adapt low carbon transport technologies, and the need to develop decarbonisation solutions that fit community and place contexts. These questions of scale and readiness for change are key to Transport for the North’s strategic work on transport decarbonisation.
The first forum also considered some of the evidence gaps on the negative externalities of transport. On this theme, Dr Will Cook set out his proposal for a new research project on the impacts of noise and vibration from railways on children’s education outcomes.
This project will use econometric techniques to examine how exam outcomes are impacted by exposure to noise, and will offer one of the first examinations of this link outside of laboratory conditions.
Understanding and mitigating negative externalities, such as those linked to noise pollution, is vital to ensure maximum benefit from transport investment.
The next Northern Evidence Academic Forum will be held on the May 12, 2021. Anyone interested in presenting at this event please contact us at research@transportforthenorth.com.
We welcome presentations on new and emerging research agendas linked to our core themes, on developing research projects, and to share results of completed projects.