FP6: Scientific forum on transport forecast validation and policy assessment (TRANSFORUM)

Период: 01.01.2004
- 01.01.2007
Программа: Framework

Контролеры:

Государственный эмеритус ученый, профессор 

Dr. sc. ing., Dr. habil. sc. ing.
Игорь Кабашкин
Факультет инжeнерных наук
igors-kabaskins

Academic degree and current position in TSI: Professor, Dr.sc.ing. Dr.hab.sc.ing, leading researcher of the Engineering Faculty, Director of PhD Programme “Telematics and Logistics”.

Previous Experience: Founder and President of Transport and Telecommunication Institute for over 15 years, Vice-rector for Research and Development Affairs for more than 10 years

Membership: Member of the Joint OECD/ITF Transport Research Committee (OECD – Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, ITF – International Transport Forum), Member of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Corresponding Member of Latvian Academy of Science, President of Latvian Transport Development and Education Association, President of Latvian Operations Research Society, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal «Transport and Telecommunication», Member of the board of the Journals “Transport”, “Technological and Economic Development”, “Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering” etc.

Academic experience: Author of more than 600 academic and research publications, author of 68 patents. Expert of the Latvian Council of Science in Civil and Transport Engineering, Chairman of promotion council for PhD degree in Civil and Transport Engineering, Chairman of Professor Council in Telematics and Logistics.

Teaching at post- and graduate level: 45 years of pedagogical experience in university; courses: Research Methodology (PhD programme); New Trends of Telematics and Logistics Development (PhD programme), Research Methodology (MSc programme), Theory of Systems and System Analysis (MSc programme), Transport Policy (MSc programme), Intelligent Transport Systems (MSc programme), Reliability Engineering (BSc programme) etc.

Participation in projects: has participated in 37 international projects (in 26 projects as national coordinator of the projects) and 26 Latvian research projects and programs (in 23 as head of the projects) within the frame of COST Activities, Horizon 2020, Framework Programs, INTERREG etc. 

Research Interests: Transport Telematics and Logistics, Smart Cities, Analysis and Modelling of Transport Systems, Intelligent Transport Systems, Reliability of Electronics Systems, Internet of Things, Cyber-Physical Systems, Information Technology Applications, Electronics and Telecommunication, Decision Support Systems, Avionics, Air Traffic Control Systems and others.

Supervised Doctoral, Master and Bachelor Theses: Supervisor of 9 PhD theses and more than 200 Master and Bachelor theses.

Awards: 2 Gold and 5 Silver Medals of International Research and Innovation Exhibition of Innovators (1985-1990); Honorary title “Latvian Honored Inventor”, Latvian Parliament (1989); Award for Innovative Excellence in Teaching, Learning and Technology, USA (1998); Award and memorial medal for outstanding research in computer science and informatics,  Latvian Academy of Sciences (2001); Award and memorial medal for outstanding performance of research in air navigation, communication and radar technology, Latvian Academy of Sciences (2002); Certificate of Recognition as a significant contribution to the research and educational work in the transport, logistics and information technology, as well as on the international success in science, Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Latvia (2014); Certificate of Honor of the Latvian Academy of Sciences for research in the field of transport and logistics (2019).

Project objectives and vision

The European Union has repeatedly expressed its commitment to the principles of sustainable mobility. Member States and the Commission are working together to develop a transport system that provides access to people, places, goods and services in an environmentally responsible, socially acceptable, and economically viable manner.

Extensive research has been conducted in the EU to develop appropriate tools for practitioners and policy-makers to develop the concept of sustainable mobility and make it operational. For this, transport planning and policies need to be based on (and monitored by) adequate indicators, forecasts have to be developed by reliable models, and assessment methodologies have to be able to combine the social, economic and environmental targets of sustainable development.

Policy development needs to be based on transparent, consistent and generally accepted information and indicators, make use of state-of-the-art forecasting tools and use transparent methodologies consistent with the principles of sustainable development. Past and current research has developed supporting tools for transport planning, which will be further refined under FP6.

TRANSFORUM focuses on policy support and assessment tools for the EU’s Common Transport Policy (CTP). The project addresses the need to verify the scientific consistency and transparency of these tools, and their ability to match the needs and expectations of policy-makers, users and stakeholders. TRANSFORUM will facilitate this verification process by:

  1. establishing a scientific forum of individual experts;
  2. facilitating the forum in a consensus-based assessment and validation of intermediate and final research results both from national research projects and from European research projects in support of the Common Transport Policy;
  3. developing recommendations to ensure compatibility and convergence between the tools used in transport policy support and assessment both at the European and national levels, and identifying best practices;
  4. disseminating project results and encouraging their uptake.

TRANSFORUM activities aim to reach a future situation that we like to describe as the TRANSFORUM vision of the future. Our vision contains the following elements:

  • Policy-makers at national and EU levels make use of knowledge and methods based on European research on transport policy instruments, transport models, transport policy impact assessment and evaluation.
  • They use a set of unified definitions of key indicators — describing the relevant expected impacts of future changes in the transport system — that are widely accepted by policy-makers at the EU and national levels and by various stakeholders.
  • There is common agreement between the specialists, policy-makers at the EU and national levels and various stakeholders on:
  • how to measure these key indicators
  • how to forecast these key indicators
  • how to use the set of indicators in policy impact assessment methodologies.

Expected achievements and impacts

The results of the project will take three different forms:

  • The first type of result will take the form of support and «critical facilitation» of on-going FP5 and FP6 projects. Support can take the form of scientific validation of results by members of the TRANSFORUM Forum, or usability checks during forum sessions in which the results of these projects can be confronted with the needs and requirements of their potential end-users.
  • The conclusions of the validation process will offer a second output, translated in a set of best practice recommendations, and descriptions of approaches to ensure compatibility/convergence between methods and models used in transport policy support and assessment both at European and national levels. These results are to be disseminated to a wider audience and will target separately the stakeholders’ representatives and the policy-support research community.
  • The third type of result will be a set of recommendations for the future of policy impact assessment methodologies, in terms of a set of operational objectives for future developments, identified gaps in knowledge and related research needs.

The scientific validation by researchers, policy-makers and stakeholders, as facilitated by TRANSFORUM, will result in a commonly accepted, more transparent set of ‘tools’ in transport policy support and assessment. This will support the development and implementation of successful policies, helping to base these policies on transparent, consistent and generally accepted information, analysis and conclusions, bringing transparency into the assessment process.

The use of generally accepted tools should help policy-makers at the national and European levels to match their proposals and actions more closely to the expectations of society at large, and should facilitate the convergence of the disparate objectives of diverse Administrations and Organizations. In this way, the results should promote the implementation of the European Union’s Common Transport Policy.

In addition, commonly accepted results (indicators, impacts, instruments as well as modelling and assessment tools) could integrate regional and even local transport policy-making processes, thus enhancing the quality of the entire transport policy planning process. This impact can reasonably be expected, as in most cases the higher policy levels will to some extent support the development of tools for policy evaluation and monitoring. TRANSFORUM therefore aims to develop guidance on, for instance, a common set of tools and indicators to be used at national level based on state of the art reviews and opinions from the fora. In turn, this will provide a framework for cities to develop their own tools and indicator sets. Therefore, the project will provide the opportunity for all countries within the EU to work within the same framework towards common objectives.

In more concrete terms, the policy-makers will benefit from the:

  • improved information and data analysis;
  • guidance on participation and facilitating consensus in the transport sector;
  • further convergence of disparate views on transport policies (from Member States, stakeholders and sectoral organisations);
  • tools for facilitating dialogue;
  • guidance to take into consideration and harmonise the various needs and priorities from the European, national and even regional-local perspectives.

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