UKTRC is a joint Economic and Social Research Council/Department for Transport/Government Scotland funded Research Centre, with a strong focus on strategic research with direct application to policy and practice, and also having major facilitating and knowledge transfer functions. This is supported by basic conceptual and methodological research, and synthesis and enhancement of the evidence base, where this is seen as a prerequisite for sound policy advice.

The Centre also differs from a conventional research centre, both in that the full five-year research programme is not specified at the outset, and that the Centre seeks complementary sources of funding. The consortium has set out a research framework and approach, and detailed the first phase of its research programme, and a process for determining research requirements and commissioning subsequent phases of research. This recognises that UKTRC is flexible in its research programming and responsive to changing policy debates, new academic findings, new partnerships across disciplines and new funding opportunities.

UKTRC carries out nine sets of activities ranging from strategic research and short-term responsive analysis, to capacity building and dissemination activities. UKTRC represents an important national institutional investment raising the profile of transport, travel and tourism issues within the international policy, practitioner and social science research community, enhancing the quality of transport debate and policy deliberations, and providing a firm foundation for levering in substantial additional research funding.

UKTRC is an inclusive Centre. Our belief is that this is best achieved by bringing together a strong group of transport and other researchers with cognate social science skills under the leadership of an independent Director capable of taking a cross-disciplinary and pan-institutional approach. Using this base, we are developing an extensive membership for UKTRC, through our networking activities.