The Future of Transport in Oxford: A debate to reimagine what sustainable travel in Oxford could look like

Convened by the Oxford SDG Impact Lab as part of the University of Oxford’s Green Action Week.

Panellists:

Hannah Budnitz  is a Research Associate in Urban Mobility at the Transport Studies Unit, University of Oxford. She has a background in transport policy and planning, working in both the private and public sectors. Her areas of interest include transport’s role in tackling climate change, how shared and virtual transport options influence the flexibility of activity patterns, the potential of data and technology to deliver innovative transport solutions through public-private-academic partnerships, and the basic interactions between land use and accessibility, sustainability and resilience

Nick Eyre is Professor of Energy and Climate Policy, and Senior Research Fellow in Energy at the ECI, and a Supernumerary Fellow of Oriel College. Nick is Director of the Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions, which is the hub for energy demand research in the UK and began on 1st April 2018. As part of this role, he is the End Use Energy Demand Champion for UK Research and Innovations’ Energy Programme. Nick has worked as a researcher, consultant and manager on energy and environmental issues since 1984.He has published extensively on energy, climate, environment and transport issues . He was a County Councillor in Oxfordshire from 1987 to 1993, taking an active role in the development of Oxfordshire’s first environmental strategy, traffic calming, CFC capture and opposition to new road building.

Louise Upton was elected to Oxford City Council in 2013, and is the Cabinet Member for Transport and Health. She is the council’s Champion for Cycling and has been behind a number of initiatives such as the Code of Conduct for the bike share schemes that operated in Oxford before the pandemic, bringing the Women’s Tour of Britain to Oxfordshire and establishing a cycling fund for non-highway improvements such as cycle parking and barrier removal. Louise was a research neuroscientist at the University of Oxford for 24 years and continues to teach neuroscience to medical and psychology students.

The panel will be moderated by Alexander Betts, Professor of Forced Migration and International Affairs, William Golding Senior Fellow in Politics at Brasenose College, and Associate Head (Doctoral and Research Training) of the Social Science Division, at the University of Oxford and Director of the Refugee Studies Centre. Professor Betts is the co-founder of the Oxford Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Impact Lab which brings together the research expertise of the University of Oxford with partners across sectors, to address the most pressing challenges of our time. The SDGs are a collection of 17 interlinked global goals that are designed to be, ‘a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future’. The SDGs were set up in 2015 by the United Nations General Assembly and are intended to be achieved by 2030.