Two Canadians shortlisted for transportation research prize

PARIS, France — Two Canadians have been shortlisted for the Young Researcher Award of the International Transport Forum (ITF) for their innovative work in transport. The duo is competing against three other young researchers from Greece, Germany and Italy for the award and the 5,000 Euro prize, which will be presented in Leipzig, Germany, May 27.

The two Canadian candidates are Hossam Abdelgawad, from University of Toronto, who developed a model for mass emergency evacuation of a city in case of an exceptional event; and Jean François Audy, from Laval University in Montreal, for research on innovative collaborative agreements between freight transport firms to increase efficiency.

The ITF provides a platform for transport ministers from 52 member countries around the world to meet with industry leaders, researchers and representatives of civil society to examine strategic policy issues in global transport. The theme of the 2010 Leipzig Forum, to be held from May 26-28 is “Transport and Innovation: Unleashing the Potential.”

The Young Researcher Award was created in 2008 to encourage creative work on transport issues by young researchers under 35 years of age from institutions, universities or consultancy firms located in ITF member countries. It is being awarded for the third time.

In all, 31 papers from participants of 32 different nationalities (including co-authors) were received. “The Young Researcher Award is obviously filling a gap in the transport research scene,” said Jack Short, secretary-general of the ITF. “We are particularly impressed with the wide range of approaches to pressing problems transport faces.”

The jury is composed of Prof. Anthony May, Chairman of the World Conference on Transport Research Society; Dr. Andreas Scheuer, Parliamentary State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development and representatives of the ITF/OECD Joint Transport Research Committee.