The 2013 Young Researcher of the Year Award will be presented at the 2013 Summit of Transport Ministers in Leipzig, Germany, on 23 May.
The jury has now announced its shortlist of three finalists:
Laura Schewel (USA) holds degrees in engineering and comparative literature from Yale University. She managed vehicle electrification projects, worked for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and founded her own company that develops tools to analyse transport behaviour. Laura is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of California at Berkeley. The jury shortlisted Laura for her paper “Shop ‘Till we drop: A History and Policy Analysis of Retails Goods Movement” Read more about Laura Schewel and her work
Nihan Akyelken (Turkey) is a Research Fellow at Oxford University in the UK, where she also completed a D.Phil. Nihan also holds undergraduate and master degrees from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and worked at the LSE Public Policy Group. Her research interests lie at the intersection of economic and political geographies, mobilities and inclusive development. The jury shortlisted Nihan for her paper on “A Multi-level Perspective on Transport Infrastructure Investment and Stock and Paid Employment in Turkey” Read more about Nihan Akyelken and her work
Laurel Paget-Seekins (USA) found her vocation as a public transport researcher when she moved to Atlanta, Georgia without a car. With masters degrees in city planning and civil engineering, and a Ph.D. from the Georgia Institute of Technology focused on public transit, she aims to bridge engineering and social science research methods to make public transit investments more sustainable. The jury shortlisted Laurel for her paper on “Conflict over Resources for Mobility: The users, actors and discourses in Atlanta, Georgia” Read more about Laurel Paget-Seekins and her work
The Theme of the 2013 Summit is “Funding Transport.” It will address the policy dilemma created by exploding global demand for mobility in the face of reduced public funding. Ministers from the 54 member countries of the International Transport Forum, business leaders and experts will spend 3 days to seek innovative ways to address the funding challenge.
For details of the 2013 Summit programme and to register, please visit www.internationaltransportforum.org/2013