PHOEBE was an integral part of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) sessions and exhibition area at the Transport Research Arena (TRA) 2024, which took place last week from 15-18 April in Dublin. The international transport event, which was attended by more than 4000 stakeholders, focused on 4 themes each aligned to PHOEBE. In particular its focus on Safe and Inclusive Transport matched PHOEBE core aim to improve risk understanding. The National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), ‘The Floow’ and POLIS Network represented PHOEBE during this four-day long event. conference.
PHOEBE project partners ‘The Floow’ and ‘iRAP’ are UK-based and ‘The Floow’ was selected to showcase leading research programs at the dedicated UKRI area. Dr. Sam Chapman, Senior Vice President Innovation of ‘The Floow’, engaged with a wide global audience during the four days at TRA 2024 showcasing the PHOEBE project on a dedicated stand. This gave project briefings to senior figures, industry, public sector bodies and academia. This also supported educational visits covering the topics of road safety problems and research solutions which supported several hundred senior high school students from Ireland.
Since the PHOEBE project partners ‘The Floow’ and ‘iRAP’ are UK-based, financial support was provided by UKRI and ‘The Floow’ was invited to present our latest research at the dedicated UKRI project stand. Sam Chapman, Senior Vice President Innovation of ‘The Floow’, engaged with a wide audience from the Ireland, the UK and Europe during the four days at TRA 2024, including groups of senior high school students from Ireland.
Poster sessions
Furthermore, National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) provided insights with several poster sessions, which invited researchers and stakeholders to discuss first PHOEBE results on road safety. These poster presentations were:
- 15 April (14:00-15:15) – Hall 8C – Poster Area (Simmonscourt) – Stage 2C – Poster presentation as part of poster session PS 1.2 People-centred & Inclusive Mobility
Traffic simulation and safety assessment requirements for enhancing road safety prediction tools - 15 April (17:15-18:30) – Hall 2C (Shelbourne Hall) – Presentation as part of session TS 1.3.3 Inclusive Mobility (1) ‘Measuring vulnerable road user volumes after mobility interventions in the metropolitan center of Athens’
- 16 April (9:45-11:00) – Hall 8C – Poster Area (Simmonscourt) – Poster presentation as part of poster session PS 2.4 Zero Emissions Transport
Environmental Impact Modeling of Bike Libraries: A Machine Learning Approach
Poster sessions included a short introductory statement by NTUA on stage, followed by an engaging discussion and detailed explanations in front of the poster. All these sessions allowed PHOEBE to engage with a diverse group of stakeholders.
PHOEBE & UKRI
Due to our dedicated high profile project stand, impactful presentations occurred. Alongside other UK partnered exemplar projects we helped to highlight the potential of UK partners in Horizon projects marking the full return of the UK into the horizon program. This high-profile showcase included visits from various embassies, senior civil servants for many nations, industry figureheads and the MOVE director general from the European Commission amongst many others. Sam Chapman (The Floow) also attended the launch of new bilateral transport funding agreements between the UK and IRELAND launched jointly by ministers of both nations.
Engaging conversations at the UKRI stand
The shared stand also allowed PHOEBE to present materials to explain road safety scenarios, data capture and risk estimation with a large interested audience. This helped to highlight the potential impacts of the PHOEBE framework and its related work on road safety across the UK, wider EU countries and also the world. Sam Chapman (Floow) emphasised already impactful usage of new data being utilised in road assessment in the UK.
This usage following PHOEBE early approaches has helped, in part of the delivery of the UK Road Safety Fund which has provided £158M in funding to support road safety delivery projects estimated to save 2,600 fatal and serious injuries over the next 20 years with an impact value of £1.2B to the UK economy. These large impacts have only been influenced by early PHOEBE work however as work progresses we hope to directly impact more in the years to come from our research.
UKRI session for UK-funded projects
