Previous THINK events can be watched online

July 2024

SEASON 2 of THINK Podcast is launched!

See more details on our podcast page and podcast player on the right.

THINK Podcast – The Transport and Health Integrated research NetworK (THINK) (aber.ac.uk)

June 2024

NEWS:

Senedd Event: Making Wales an Active Travel Nation, Weds 12th June

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Calm and Competent leadership programme from Do Well

• Ken Perry who delivered one of the THINK conference workshops on the future of leadership launches a new Leadership programme in June.

• Wednesday 12th June at 10am: introductory session to the programme.

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THINK Secondment July – Sept 2024

Opportunity to work on the integration of bus and bicycle travel in Wales: P/T secondment with the Cross-Party Group on the Active Travel Act (CPGATA)

See details and to apply in the downloadable file.

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THINK Manifesto 2024 launched

THINK Manifesto 2024 – The Transport and Health Integrated research NetworK (THINK) (aber.ac.uk)

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Consultancy work opportunity for community transport – deadline 15th June

Consultant Specification for Steer Community Transport  (Canolfan Maerdy) Dial-a-Ride Bus Scheme

Applications by 15^th June 2024

Canolfan Maerdy is a Company Ltd by Guarantee and a Charity, working across the Upper Amman, Swansea and Llynfell Valleys in South Wales.  It provides, Community Transport (Steer) Food Poverty support (Maerdy Food Hub and Community Growing) Community Café, Registered full-day Childcare (Lots of Tots) and Youth Services (Maerdy Youth).  All of its work is focused on meeting the needs of local residents and filling gaps in existing public sector, private or community provision.

Project Overview

We are developing and seeking to pilot a new Dial-a-Ride bus scheme, aimed initially, at providing transportation for residents from Upper Brynaman to Pontardawe. This initiative is intended to address the gap in public transport services at certain times of the day as the current X26 services are insufficient, often leaving passengers with no way to travel along our valley to the east. Steer – Community Transport, under the management of Canolfan Maerdy, will initially utilise a Section 19 Community Transport Permit for this project, however, it may be possible to move to another permit which allows some scheduled stops.  We are looking to contract a Consultant or employ a Researcher to work alongside a full-time bus operator, Transport Manager and with a User/Steering Group to undertake a number of days of market and action research, contributing to planning, formative evaluation and the potential establishment of a sustainable service. A final Project Report embracing feasibility and options will be required.

The Project is funded via Strategic Prosperity Fund from UK Government and the pilot study must be completed by end December 2024. An overall amount of £9,000 is available for the research with additional small budget for marketing and events.

Objectives

1. Market Research: Understand the transport needs of the local community and the potential demand for the Dial-a-Ride service
2. Pilot Development: Design and implement a pilot Dial-a-Ride scheme, ensuring operational feasibility and addressing identified community needs.
3. Formative Evaluation: Continuously evaluate the service, gathering data to inform adjustments and improvements
4. Sustainability Assessment: Develop strategies for the long-term sustainability of the Dial-a-Ride service

For more information and how to apply download the specification.

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Discover Your Role engagement workshops

Join Health Care Research Wales for an enriching series of engagement workshops as they start the next phase of our Discover Your Role (DYR) journey to enhance public involvement in health and social care research across Wales. The goal of our workshops is to build upon phase one where we identified the barriers affecting public involvement. Each workshop will focus on three specific barriers identified. The objective is to come up with practical solutions to overcome these obstacles by collaborating with members of the public and researchers.

11 June – Wrexham University Campus, Wrexham

9 July – Awen Institute, Swansea

17 July – Holiday Inn, Cardiff

Find out more and book

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May 2024

THINK Transport Needs Roadshow

31st May, 10:30 – 13:30 – Newport Pembrokeshire Memorial Hall

Researchers on transport and health at Aberystwyth University recognise that meeting transport needs in your community is an issue that needs to be better understood and we want you to help us better understand it. We want you to tell us what transport you want and need so what you tell us can inform our future research. This is not an event to implement a solution but it’s about capturing what you want and need and feeding that into our research.

We want to explore how similar or different the wants and needs are in rural, suburban and urban communities so we will be holding three different roadshows.

This event has a workshop from 10:30 to 13:00 which you sign up to and at 13:00 you will get a free lunch.

If you can’t attend the workshop you can drop in and see the transport stalls and speak to local transport providers between 10:30 – 13:30.

Reserve your free place online https://NewportTransportNeedsWorkshop.eventbrite.co.uk

March 2024

Upcoming events

THINK Seminar: Transport survey design for communities & grass roots groups

Thursday 20th March, 13:30 – 15:00, online

Reserve you fully funded place via Eventbrite https://THINKTransportSurveyDesignSeminar.eventbrite.co.uk or request a place via email to think@aber.ac.uk.

Researchers, Dr. Burcu Tekeş and Dr Lucy Baker from the THINK delivery team will provide their expert tips for non academics and community and grass roots groups on how to write transport surveys and interviews, test them and analyse the results, with Q&A at the end.

This seminar has been informed by the work that the THINK delivery team has been doing to support the Transport Issues in Communities and Rural Communities small project award research.

February 2024

Events

Behaviour and Culture Change Workshop in partnership with the West Wales Regional Healthy Travel Charter Stakeholder Group

21st February 2024, 13:30 – 15:30, online

Email think@aber.ac.uk to request a Teams joining link.

With Dr Simon Payne, lead for the Master in Behaviour Change course at Aberystwyth University and James Smolinski, Senior Behavioural Science Specialist from the Public Health Wales Behavioural Science Unit.

Join them as they provide an introduction on how behaviour change psychology can support your team to transition to new habits and behaviours related to transport and health.

Simon is a performance psychologist (British Psychological Society Chartered), and a behaviour change and implementation scientist, working as a lecturer in psychology and behaviour change in the Department of Psychology at Aberystwyth University. He co-designed and coordinates the exciting MSc Behaviour Change.

James is a behavioural scientist and trainee health psychologist working out of Public Health Wales’ Behavioural Science Unit. He works with Transport for Wales to help them with their goal to ensure that 45% of all journeys in Wales will be made by sustainable means by 2040. 

This will be particularly useful for those who are leads in organisations that have the infrastructure for sustainable transport but struggle to get many people to use it.

There will be a Q&A section so get your questions ready, and you can send them in advance to think@aber.ac.uk if you cannot make it on the day.

For those who cannot make it we will record the session and make available via the THINK YouTube channel after the event.

THINK Seminar: Transport options for young adults – balancing freedom & risk

Book via Eventbrite or email think@aber.ac.uk to request a place.

Eventbrite booking link

Thursday 22nd February 2024, 13:30 – 14:30, online

Dr Sarah Jones will talk about changes in travel behaviours of young people as they leave compulsory education. She will highlight the individual risks that this brings with it, as well as the challenge it presents to encouraging lifelong active travel and public transport use and the implications for our climate. Finally, she will discuss potential solutions, particularly Graduated Driver Licensing.

Dr Shaun Helman will take us through the basic facts and range of risk factors for young and novice drivers including some things that have been done to address the issue of risks faced by this group. He will introduce us to one of the potential ways to address these risks via the idea of Graduated Driver Licensing and explain some of the common counterarguments to this approach.

Dr Ian Greenwood: Many of us are experts in our own fields and know inside out what could or should be done to change policy where we think the evidence is strong enough to persuade politicians of the need to change. We can be disappointed. Using young driver policy in Britain between 1987 and 2021 to frame the discussion, Ian briefly shares the revolving door of policymaking for GDL which has continued into 2024, and puts forward two areas which may inform the thinking on how to influence agenda setting. First the application of Kingdon’s multiple streams model (1995) and the importance of the coupling of the problem, policy and politics streams, and second the work of Marsden and Reardon (2017) who argue that there is too little emphasis of how and why policies are made or not made in transport policy (governance), instead there is a dominance of what needs to change. Within this, language, framing, and the conditions when a policy window opens are important in the complex and ambiguous world of public policy.

THINK Workshop: A Just Transition or Just a Transition

Thursday 29th February 2024, 13:00 – 14:30, online, free, English language, British Sign Language available upon request.

BOOKING https://THINKWorkshop-JustATransition.eventbrite.co.uk

FAQs

If all the vehicles parked on the pavement in the image above are 100% electric, is this an example of a Just Transition or just a transition? To borrow from Buckminster Fuller, we can’t decarbonise our transport fairly using our current approach, we need to build alternatives to our existing model. Join us to help shape a possible approach that can a lower the impact of travel on people as well as the planet.

Efforts to make travel more equitable aren’t working, which doesn’t bode well for achieving a Just Transition. Despite decades of research, strategies and campaigns for more inclusive mobility, progress has been described as ‘slow and piecemeal’ and in a recent Transport for All report, disabled people described the impact of this injustice as being ‘felt in every corner of our lives’.

And now we’re redesigning to rapidly decarbonise transport networks. If today’s new vehicles and travel environments continue to disable and disadvantage, when will that transition start to become Just ? When will we begin taking this one-time opportunity to simultaneously and intentionally design for inclusion as well as decarbonisation?

Andy Hyde brings people who are disabled by our transport networks together with those who design and provide our services. In this workshop, Andy will consider what might be stopping us from creating more inclusive services and suggest some ideas that could turn the expertise and experience that we already have into immediately actionable plans for incorporating design for inclusion (designing for people) into emerging plans for decarbonisation (designing for the planet).

“The challenge is to avoid being trapped by the present – which requires finding a method, a space, or a point of leverage, with which to think thoughts that don’t yet exist” Geoff Mulgan

Andy will share some ideas for a new approach that uses a new language of mobility and considers our journeys as a system, a combination of experiences beyond transport. We’ll then work together in groups, exploring a process that could help align and combine efforts to improve inclusion with plans for decarbonisation. It’s not claiming to be the answer, but it’s a start.

This will be a participative, conversational event. If you play a role in making journeys happen, join us to meet with colleagues from transport, health, academia, policy and third sector along with people who have experience of exclusion and disadvantage when they travel.

Join us for a rare opportunity to use our imagination, create alternative visions of more inclusive and low carbon journeys of the future and shape ideas for a new way of working together.

Andy provided an introduction to these ideas at the THINK Conference that you can watch back online via our YouTube channel.

November 2023

23rd November 2023: THINK and West Wales Healthy Travel Charter Seminar on Cycling in the Workplace.

Watch the recording online https://youtu.be/0wIoFHqZt7s?feature=shared

The workshop will include a talk from Sustrans sharing case studies from other Healthy Travel Charter regions on their cycling in the workplace commitments. 

Jason who manages workplace cycling provision for Hywel Dda will share his experiences.

Plus information on Cycling in the workplace accreditation scheme from Cycling UK.

The final 30 mins will be a space for open Q&A and discussion around Cycling in the workplace commitments. 

If you would like an invitation to this event please email think@aber.ac.uk

October 2023

Launch of Wales Net Zero by 2035 4^th Challenge: How could people and places be connected across Wales by 2035?

LIVE #4 How could people and places be connected across Wales by 2035?   – Wales Net Zero 2035

Connecting people and places is vital for people’s health, wellbeing, and social relationships; to enable learning and employment; to enrich Welsh culture; and support the economy.

Eurgain Powell, Principal in Sustainable Development and Health with Public Health Wales and member of the Challenge Group said “The way we all connect and move around has an impact on our health and our environment. Our lives are now shaped by cars, and they now dominate our roads leading to increased air pollution, social isolation, sedentary lifestyles, biodiversity loss and climate change. We have a huge opportunity to change this and create opportunities for people to connect in ways that are better for our health, communities and our planet.” 

Lorraine Whitmarsh, Professor of Environmental Psychology at the University of Bath and member of the Challenge Group said “Reaching net zero emissions in mobility by 2035 requires radically rethinking how we connect with people and places – where there may be opportunities to replace physical travel with digital connectivity, as well as travelling by sustainable modes and using green vehicle technologies. We want to learn from successful initiatives both here in Wales and elsewhere in the world to explore how we can rapidly and sustainably cut emissions from mobility.”

Request for your evidence and views

Help identify a pathway forward for Wales toward net zero mobility, that is fairer, more resilient and cleaner by 2035 or sooner.

In seeking submissions for this challenge, it is recognised both the existing strategy of Welsh Government, including Llwybr Newydd (2021)[1], and the new Wales Transport Strategy. It is recognised that some aspects of transport are devolved to Welsh Government, but others remain the responsibility of the UK Government[2].

The Challenge Group welcomes the submission of relevant views, case-studies and evidence, which can be submitted via the Group’s website: https://netzero2035.wales/submit-evidence/evidence-submission-portal/.

Please note that the Challenge Group is looking for evidence of what can be done by 2035 and what would need to be in place for that to happen. This call for evidence will be open from 11th October 2023 – 30th November 2023.

The Group will invite further feedback on its draft conclusions prior to presenting its report to the Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru in the summer of 2024. More details will be provided to respondents in due course.

With that in mind, we would note that we are also considering the role of both shipping and aviation in Wales within our scope.

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[1] https://www.gov.wales/llwybr-newydd-wales-transport-strategy-2021

[2] https://www.gov.wales/sites/default/files/consultations/2022-07/national-transport-delivery-plan-2022-to-2027.pdf

Bus Action Day Report

Report on the outcomes of the discussions on the Bus Action Day held in Aberystwyth on 16 September 2023

“The Bus Action Day was held on 16 September 2023 in Aberystwyth. Organisers
invited all Ceredigion’s Councillors individually, the Senedd members for the region and for
Ceredigion, the MP, the Deputy Minister in the Welsh Government responsible for
transport, officers from Ceredigion’s transport department, Bus Users Cymru, bus operators,
trade unions, bus drivers and, of course, passengers. By this time they had been receiving
help from Aberystwyth University’s Transport and Health Integrated Research Network
(THINK). Their input was to help Ceredigion Bus Action to organise an event where all participants would be equal, where all voices could be heard and where fresh ideas could be on the table without
ridicule or prejudice.”

THINK secondment

Opportunity to work on GP / Primary Care research project in Mid Wales: P/T secondment with Rural Health and Care Wales (RHCW)

We are looking for an individual currently employed in an organisation within our THINK network who will act as a Researcher for RHCW looking at transport and logistical barriers to accessing primary care in Mid Wales.

The Transport and Health Integrated research NetworK (THINK) is offering financial support for secondments across the THINK membership. We believe the success of integrated research requires sharing knowledge between institutions. Hence, the secondment opportunity requires that the researcher already have an employment contract within a university or transport or health based organisation. THINK can provide up to £2000 to be provided to your organisation (to cover your time away, for example) or your host institution (in this case RHCW, to go some way to covering your time and other expenses e.g. travel expenses).

Time commitment: 1 day a week over a 3 month period (12-14 days total, dependent on maximum contribution of £2k). The secondment must be completed by June 2024.

Rural Health and Care Wales, which is a collaboration between the three health boards operating across Mid Wales (Hywel Dda and Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Boards; Powys Teaching Health Board), has been tasked with undertaking research into the GP provision across Mid Wales, exploring best practice examples of alternative models of delivering primary care interventions in rural areas (requested by RHCW Stakeholder Group and approved by the Mid Wales Joint Committee for Health and Care: A review and Action Plan for GP / Primary Care provision across Mid Wales). Part of the work will involve looking at distance travelled by patients to primary care centres and any logistical barriers to accessing Primary Care services. The secondee will support this element of the research, working closely with the Head of Rural Health and Care Wales.

This piece of work will provide an opportunity for cross-sectoral working, potentially between academia and healthcare, and foster working relationships that benefit from academic research rigour and operational insight and knowledge.

A short, reflective report in conjunction with RHCW will be required at the end of the secondment to capture the findings of the actual research and the experiences of working together. Welsh language skills are desirable/ preferred but not essential.

If you are interested in this opportunity, please provide a short letter of interest highlighting your experience that might help you in this role and identify why you want do it and acknowledging that your host institution is happy in principle for this to happen. The deadline for expressions of interest for this secondment is Monday 13^th Nov 2023. If there are several high calibre expressions of interest, a member of the THINK delivery team and the Head of Rural Health and Care Wales will informally interview those on the short list to ensure the needs of the secondee and RHCW are best met.

If interested or want more information, please contact Amy Nicholass, THINK Project Officer at think@aber.ac.uk

Upcoming events

THINK Seminar: public transport resilience to climate change in the UK

23rd October 2023 10:00 – 11:00 online

Join 3 speakers as we explore how climate change in the UK will impact public transport provision and what can be done to adapt to changes.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/think-seminar-public-transport-resilience-to-climate-change-in-the-uk-tickets-723332044617?aff=oddtdtcreator

THINK Winter 2023 hybrid conference

Fully funded places in person or online.

13th Dec 2023 in Cardiff – booking now open. Details at: https://THINK2023WinterConference.eventbrite.co.uk

If you would like to submit an idea for a presentation or poster for the conference please complete our form and email back to think@aber.ac.uk by 27th Sept.

To find out more about the accessibility of the in-person venue and the online experience please read our Accessibility Statement.

September 2023

THINK online seminar on the role of electric-cargo bikes in the UK

1. Jake Neighbour and Harry Tainton from Sustrans will share their experience of the E-Move project.

E-Move is an electric cycle loan scheme for people living in Aberystwyth, Rhyl, Barry, Swansea, Newtown and their surrounding areas. Jack Neighbour is the project officer at Sustrans Cymru responsible for coordinating loans across Aberystwyth and Newtown. Jack has a wealth of experience in identifying and overcoming challenges associated with the delivery an e-cycle loan project.

Harry Tainton is a senior evaluation officer with the research and monitoring unit at Sustrans. Harry is responsible for evidencing the impact of the E-Move project and trying to identify what barriers exist to wider adoption of electric cycles across Wales.

Between them they will talk about the practical aspects of delivering a successful electric cycle loan scheme in Wales, the impact of E-Move and then a brief look into future work that would be necessary in realising the wider adoption of electric cycles.

2. Graeme Sherriff is Reader in the School of Health and Society at the University of Salford.

He conducts research on active travel and shared micromobility, including bike share, e-scooters and e-cargo bikes. He will talk about recent developments in Greater Manchester in relation to e-cargo bikes in particular and reflect on what policy support would help to drive update of these vehicles.

3. Will Vaughan is the Founder of Pedicargo a company that has provided award winning pedal powered services to organisations since 2007.  Will shares his experience of working with health care services and local authorities to provide solutions such as waste collection and offering a low carbon pedicargo delivery service to rival fossil fuel vehicles. His organisation saves money for the health service and local authority whilst improving safety, service provision, reducing cost all whilst reducing carbon emissions’

Online Teams joining instructions will be emailed to you a day before the event.

THINK announces winners of the Transport Issues in Rural Communities Grant 2023

We had nine applications for our Transport Issues in Rural Communities award of up to £2000.

They were high quality and interesting project ideas and we chose those which clearly showed a defined rural community in need and exploring a practical way to help that community to solve its transport and health related challenges, and projects which could be delivered before July 2024.

The three projects that the THINK award is supporting are:

Explore Future Six Council Local Community transport using Electric Buses & Bikes

Led by Kate Inglis, Community Councillor on Llangattock Community Council

Llangattock is a rural village with approximately 1000 residents, set in the Usk Valley in Powys. Llangattock Village is experiencing increasing problems with the number of cars and insufficient parking. Existing public transport in the area is very limited with infrequent services to the smaller villages. This existing service is under-used and we would like to understand why this is.
The key method being a local survey/questionnaire, designed and analysed by a professional consultant expert in community transport, who can help Llangattock Community Council to understand the demand, physical reach and routes, means of operation and to help with a business case to support an application to fund a larger project to set up a local Community E-bus and E-bike service.

Exploring prospects of shared e-micro mobility in Rural India

Led by Dr. Anshuman Sharma, Assistant Professor and Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) and Dr Yasir Ali, Lecturer, Transport and Urban Planning Group, School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering, Loughborough University

This project will investigate the motives and barriers behind adopting shared electric micro-mobility modes (such as electric rickshaws) in rural India via a survey, considering sociodemographic characteristics, such as age group, gender, economic status, marital status, and education. This project will investigate the factors encouraging/discouraging rural inhabitants to adopt shared electric micro-mobility modes. The project will also devise interventions for mitigating obstacles and uptaking shared electric micro-mobility modes.

Community Transport Initiatives – Volunteer Drivers (barriers to volunteering)

Led by Rhian Hathaway, Grants Officer, Bridges Centre and Andrea Charles, Community Wellbeing Project Manager

The lack of public transport options in rural Monmouthshire has created significant challenges for residents in accessing essential services and maintaining social connections. The community car scheme, although a promising solution faces difficulties in recruiting volunteer drivers, hindering its ability to meet the demand for transportation assistance. This research project comprising of surveys and in depth interviews aims to identify and address the barriers to volunteer recruitment, ultimately improving the effectiveness and reach of the community car scheme. By addressing these issues, the project will contribute to enhancing mobility, fostering community engagement, and improving the overall well-being of residents in Monmouthshire.

August 2023

The THINK delivery team welcome a new member for 9 months – Dr Burcu Tekeş!

Dr. Burcu Tekeş is an Associate Professor at Başkent University, Turkey. She is currently also working with us as a post-doctoral research associate in THINK project.

Burcu holds her Ph.D. in Traffic and Transportation Psychology and MSc. in social psychology. She previously had experience with Vision Zero: Road Safety project in Turkey as the senior expert on human behaviour. Burcu’s research mainly focuses on applied psychology particularly in traffic and transportation, environment and health. She has over 30 research publications, including a book on Traffic Psychology.

Here you can find more about Burcu’s work: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Burcu-Tekes

June 2023

THINK hold online public workshops:

Gender+ Bus: Making bus services safer for women in rural communities

We are holding two online workshops on the 15th of June for 1.5 hour length at 11am and 6pm for women living in rural communities and smaller towns in Wales to share their views and experiences of using public bus services and give input into what can be done to make using buses safer and more inclusive.

You can find out more about the Gender+ Bus project here

This event is hosted by Lucy Baker, a Post-Doctoral Research Associate within the Psychology Department at Aberystwyth University.

Gender+ Bus: Making bus services safer for women in rural communities Tickets | Eventbrite

7th June 10 – 2 and 22nd June 2-5pm online

Systems mapping active travel for all in the UK

THINK convene systems mapping exercise to capture the interconnections that inform accessible active travel (walking, wheeling and cycling) for all in the UK. To request further information and a place on this please email think@aber.ac.uk

May 2023

THINK workshop: Introduction to Co-production and Citizen Involvement

Read more on the Co-Production resources page

Co-Production Resources

THINK launch Mentoring Scheme

Find out how to become a mentor or mentee on the Mentor Scheme page

https://think.aber.ac.uk/think-mentor-scheme/

April 2023

THINK online seminar on ‘The Gig Economy, Logistics, Health and Wellbeing’

You can watch it back online:

THINK Gig Economy, Logistics, Health and Wellbeing seminar – YouTube

March 2023

THINK held two training sessions with Disability Wales

The course covered:

• What is Disability?

What comes to mind when you think of ‘disability’? We will be questioning what disability is and how it can be perceived.

• The Models of Disability

There are two main models of disability: the Social Model, and the Medical Model. We’ll be talking about what they are, their differences and why Disabled People use the social model. We’ll also discuss why we believe it’s important to use the social model and the easy ways/ changes we can all do.

• The Importance of language 

How words can have negative impacts on disabled people and create or continue incorrect assumption or connotations. We’ll also look at the words disabled people use and why we think it’s important.

• Engaging with disabled people  
• Feeling comfortable when talking with disabled people – top tips (we’re not scary!)
• People often tell us they worry about upsetting or offending disabled people by asking or saying the wrong thing. At this session we’ll talk about the Dos and Don’ts so everyone can feel happy and confident talking to disabled people. There will be no judgement at this session, ask anything!
• What engagement methods work best for different disabled people and varying health conditions. We’ll go over where communication support can be accessed, or software found.
• We’ll look at the barriers which exist when disabled people try to engage, and how these can be minimised or removed.
• Accessible Research

The benefits and barriers of different research methods, including how to reduce or remove barriers for disabled people to fully engage. We’ll look at how to create accessible virtual surveys that work with screen readers and other software used by disabled people. We’ll also look at what formats work best and gives tips to ensure focus groups are accessible for all whether virtual or face to face, and how disabled participants can be found and invited to take part. We’ll talk about reasonable adjustments and communication support including palantypists and British Sign Language interpreters and where/ how they can be booked. 

January 2023

THINK hold Public Agenda Setting Workshops

You can read the write up of the workshops on our publications page

https://think.aber.ac.uk/think-academy-publications/

Transport and Health in the Communities Projects

The Transport and Health Integrated Research Network is delighted to announce it is supporting four projects addressing the role of transport in creating a healthy community. The projects selected were:

Age Connects Morgannwg: Transport Research

Led by Bethan Shoemark-Spear, Strategic Development, Partnership and Policy Manager for Age Connects Morgannwg.

Age Connects Morgannwg note an increased demand for support with transport issues from the older people in their area and want to know more as to why this is the case, for example, is it lack of public transport? Is it that they can’t safely get to their nearest bus or train station? Do they lack confidence to travel alone? The project will allow facilitated discussions with older people and support staff and give time to analyse the responses in order to provide a service more tailored to older people’s needs helping them to become independent and to get outdoors.

Increasing Mobility of Young Girls by Giving Scooties

Led Dr. Nashia Ajaz, Lecturer- Gender Studies at Fatima Jinnah Women University, Pakistan.

Scooties are mopeds in Pakistan. This project aims to help female students aged 18-25 years, who face mobility restrictions due to the cultural and religious norms in Pakistan. Many female students discontinue their education due to facing sexual harassment and abuse when using public transport, which is predominantly made for and used by men in Pakistan. The project will offer purchasing of scooties along with training and support to female students. The project aims to give young women their right to mobility, and independence, and help them gain confidence. The project will connect with a similar initiative in Wales.

Social inclusion through community-led transport

Led by Gemma Lelliott, Director for Wales, Community Transport Association (CTA).

The aim of the project is to work with a particular community who face significant societal barriers to inclusion – people with learning disabilities – and to identify transport options and support that will help to foster social connection.  Good transport services open up access to services and activities within the local community and provide people with learning disabilities with more choice and control over their lives, this is especially the case for those living in rural communities where access to public transport has declined over recent years. This project is a catalyst to encourage discussion and action around changing working practices, and identify ways in which the Community Transport Association can support operators to extend services in order to better support people’s wellbeing.

The overall aim of the project is to use it as a stepping stone for future work – it will create a snapshot of key sticking points and help us to identify the next steps. The project is the springboard from which we can collectively start to address some of the organisational, institutional and attitudinal barriers to travel and make a real difference in supporting people with learning disabilities to feel included in a transport network fit for the future. The project wants to help implement real and impactful changes to how bus, rail and community transport services are delivered if they are not meeting the needs of people with learning disabilities and we recognise that this work will take much longer than the initial project.

Encouraging Active Travel In Newtown (EAT IN)

Led by Ruth Stafford, Project Officer, Mid Wales. Sustrans.

This project is to help people living in Newtown, particularly in the Treowen estate area, to walk, cycle and wheel more. The project will provide information on transport options, especially around active travel, and work towards setting up a relevant travel companion scheme to support residents (if appropriate).

January 2023

Places of Play seminar, January 17th 16:30-17:30 online

If you missed this event you can watch online https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQEppOkwIUs

We will be joined by guest speakers Dr Matluba Khan and Professor Alison Stenning who will be giving talks on involving children and young people in designing and planning urban spaces and creating spaces for play. The talks will explore the benefits of enabling play in public spaces and places in which people of all ages can come together to socialise outdoors and the challenges today in creating spaces for play, or simply hanging-out with neighbours, friends and family, in communities.

For full details and to register for a free place, please use see our Eventbrite page: THINK Seminar Places for Play Tickets, Tue 17 Jan 2023 at 16:30 | Eventbrite

Previous events in 2022

December 2022

Minister Opens The Centre for Transport and Mobility (CeTraM)

The official launch of Aberystwyth University’s new research centre, The Centre for Transport and Mobility (CeTraM), took place on the 1^st December during the University’s Festival of Research. The new centre co-directed by Professor Peter Merriman (Department of Geography and Environmental Science) and Professor Charles Musselwhite (Psychology; co-Director of THINK) will be focusing on different aspects of mobility and transport through the lenses of the social and behavioural sciences and humanities.

The theme of the day was on transport, mobility and health and started with a poetry reading from Matthew Jarvis, reading his poem about walking – Milltir Sgwâr part of three poems written in praise of walking for THINK (see https://think.aber.ac.uk/in-praise-of-walking/ ).

Keynote presenter Dr Justin Spinney from Cardiff University discussed that we needed to measure travel and transport differently, do we measure what is really important?  Where does joyful travel for example fit in transport models?

Dr Rachel Rahman Director of the Centre of Excellence in Rural Health discussed how rural areas can have difficulty of access to active travel – poor pavements, poor lighting, lack of connectivity which leads to lack of spaces for informal and formal meeting.

Finally, Professor Peter Merriman reminded us that mobility and movement are central to our lives. Mobilities capture this using a variety of creative methods including those from arts and humanities and these are important in informing policy and practice but often don’t get the attention they deserve.

The official launch was carried out by Lee Waters, MS, Deputy Minister for Climate Change for Wales, who spoke of the need for such a centre to underpin the transport issues of the day, asking us all to think differently about transport reminding us that transport is fundamentally about people and about social justice.

The talks were supported by information and stalls from THINK, sharing some of the key research to date, and SUSTRANS who shared details of their E-Move project.

CeTraM looks to build on this launch by involving more academics from different disciplines and invites people from policy and practice to get in touch. Keep up to date with the work of CetraM at https://cetram.aber.ac.uk

Charles Musselwhite chm93@aber.ac.uk

Peter Merriman prm@aber.ac.uk

October 2022

THINK launches the Transport Issues in the Community Small Project Fund

HCRW conference in Cardiff

The THINK delivery team attended the HCRW conference in Cardiff on 13th October 2022 and had some interesting conversations at the stall and launched the Transport Issues in the Community Small Project Fund.

The THINK delivery team will be at the HCRW conference in Cardiff on 13th October, come and say hi at our stall!

International Conference on Transport & Health (ICTH) 2022 – Global Infrastructure

Looking upstream to identify downstream Social Determinants of Health (SDOH)

Conference runs: 13 – 30 June 2022

IN-PERSON and VIRTUAL DAYS

• Cardiff, Wales (UK) – (13:00 – 17:30 on 21st June and 09:00 – 17:00 on 22nd June)
• Denver, Colorado (USA) – 27 & 28 June
• Montreal, Canada – 16 & 17 June

For THINK members only (it’s free to join here Get Involved – The Transport and Health Integrated research NetworK (THINK) (aber.ac.uk)) , you can bring along a colleague or friend for free, just email their name as your ‘THINK member guest’ as instructed when booking.

THINK are excited to be partnering with ICTH to deliver the Cardiff transit stop of the International Conference of Transport and Health. Join us on 21st and 22nd June in person in Cardiff, or you can purchase a virtual only ticket and join us online or watch recordings at a time that suits you.

Jenny Mindell, Professor of Public Health at University College London will be our keynote speaker on 22nd June. There will be international presentations of research abstracts (on topics such as walking, disability and inequity, infrastructure, perceptions of mobility, new health services using drones, commuting and work) and social events. In-person abstract sessions will also include virtual presentations. Refreshments, dinner vouchers on the 21st and a cricket match on the 21st are included in the ticket price.

The detailed programme for the whole conference (13-30th June) with listed authors and abstracts is now available Programme: In-Person & Virtual (tphlink.com)

The first afternoon on the 21st June will be held at the lovely Bute Park where you can try out assisted bikes, e-bikes and trikes from Cardiff Pedal Power and finishing with an optional trip to witness a famous British past time – a cricket match with dinner and warm up entertainment including live music beforehand.

The second full day will be in the centre of Cardiff on the 22nd June, with easy access by foot, bike, train or bus (including international connections from London), and the venue is close to many accommodation options for those travelling from further afield.

For information on how to get to the second day venue at Glamorgan Cricket Ground – Sophie Gardens please see the venue website

The entire ICTH programme (13th – 30th June), including real-time in-person and virtual sessions will be recorded and available to all registered delegates to watch back at a time that suits you.

For more information and to register for a place please see the main conference website. Cardiff, Wales: 21-22 June (tphlink.com)

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT PURCHASING TICKETS!

When booking a ticket you have a few options on the booking page:

1. This option gets you full virtual access for all online livestreaming and recordings from 13-th 30^th June and includes in-person access to the Cardiff event hosted by THINK. “ICTH IN-PERSON & Virtual Access ($399 + $16 processing fee) TOTAL $415.00
2. This option is available if you have already joined the Transport and Health Science Group (THSG) or the International Professional Association for Transport & Health (IPATH) which would provide you with access to a discount for the virtual and in-person conference fee as well as all the benefits of becoming members of those organisations year round.  “ICTH IPATH/THSG IN-PERSON & Virtual Access ($349 + $14 processing fee) type 6 TOTAL $363.00”
3. This option is if you only want to attend any of the virtual livestreaming or recorded events from 13^th-30^th June, including virtual attendance at the Cardiff event. “ICTH Full Standard – Virtual ONLY ($249 + $10 processing fee) TOTAL $259.00”
4. This option is the same as 3 but with a student discount “ICTH Full Student – Virtual ONLY ($149 + $6 processing fee) TOTAL $155.00
5. This option is for members of THSG or IPATH who only want to attend virtually “ICTH Full Standard IPATH/THSG Member Virtual ONLY ($199 + $8 processing fee) TOTAL $207.00
6. This option is for students who also have membership of THSG or IPATH “ICTH Student IPATH/THSG Member Virtual ONLY ($99 + $4 processing fee) TOTAL $103.00”

After you have selected one of the above options you can add if you want to attend the Cardiff event in person in the following section “In-Person Site Selection AND IPATH/THSG Membership (NO processing fee)” and here is where you can also request to join IPATH.

Book directly here ICTH 2022 – Global Infrastructure Registration (constantcontact.com)

NB The processing fee applies to each of the ticket options: it’s to cover the costs of paying the bank processing fees for registration.

Previous ICTH photos from http://www.tphlink.com/icth-2022–global-infrastructure.html

Previous Events in 2022

If you are a public health expert, transport academic, infrastructure engineer, estate manager, NHS worker, transport and health researcher, social prescriber, transport or health policy maker, or anyone else with an interest in tackling the challenges encountered when transport and health intersect, join one of our workshops to identify solutions to these challenges.

In this workshop, we will:

• Identify key priorities for transport and health

• Identify barriers to achieving transport and health priorities

• Consider how best to support those working collaboratively in transport and health

• Develop an agenda to move forward in addressing key priorities in transport and health