Photo credits: Pierre-Leo Bourbonnais/WCTR2023
Karyn Scerri, Ph.D. student and researcher at the Institute for Climate Change and Sustainable Development at the University of Malta was awarded the WCTRS Y-II Innovation Grant at the 16th World Conference on Transport Research held on 17 July 2023 in Montréal, Canada.
This grant was awarded for her ongoing research in sustainable mobility under the supervision of Prof. Maria Attard. The WCTRS-YII is a collection of five grants for scholars conducting transport research, consisting of one Innovation Grant and four Prestige Grants, with the winning papers being reviewed and selected by the Steering Committee of the Society. As an awardee, Ms Scerri presented her research paper as part of a Special Session in the Conference.
The research paper, entitled ‘Understanding the Impact of Pedestrian Intervention on Laziness and Car Dependency Reduction in a European Island’ focuses on travel behaviour in Malta. The study explores the phenomenon of laziness within transport through the analysis of lazy user behaviour constructs in modal choice for short-distance trips. The study integrates the use of pedestrian-focused intervention as a tool for analysis to better understand and assess the potential impact of pedestrian interventions in encouraging active travel.
At the same conference Prof. Maria Attard was invited to sit on a number of panels, one discussing careers in academia for young transport researchers and the other discussing issues of equity. Whilst the young researchers panel was organised by the WCTR-YII Committee, the panel discussion on equity was organised by a leading research team called Mobilising Justice from the University of Toronto. Prof. Attard co-chaired the special interest group on urban transport policy and planning and oversaw the organisation of 13 sessions spread over the long-week conference.
