The establishment of UKTRC provides a unique opportunity to raise the breadth and quality of UK transport-related research and policy debates, and to establish dialogue and exchange across social science disciplines in the UK and internationally, in a mutually beneficial manner. In the process, the aim is to greatly strengthen and broaden the portfolio of conceptual and methodological tools and the policy evidence base, both in transport and more widely. It intends to complement existing initiatives (e.g. Commission for Integrated Transport), and to act as a catalyst for new types of research and policy debates.

In short, we envisage that:

"UKTRC will become an internationally leading centre of excellence for top quality fundamental and applied interdisciplinary social science-led research, dealing with the interactions between transport and travel, the economy, society and the environment, and the influence of governance structures and processes. It will create, manage and disseminate knowledge and resources essential to increasing the standards of best practice and policy formulation, and the breadth and depth of research capabilities in the field."

Underlying the work of the UKTRC are two sets of dialogue:

1. Between transport researchers and those in the wider social sciences whose work is of relevance to travel and transport (although which may not hitherto have been accessible to transport researchers)

2. Between the academic community and practitioners and policy analysts, in local authorities, consultancies, the DfT and elsewhere. UKTRC is developing a comprehensive asset base of relevant knowledge, data and techniques, which provides a valuable resource both to academics and practitioners.

Within the first five years of the operation of the Centre, we intend that:

"UKTRC will become an invaluable asset to the national and international research communities and to policy makers and practitioners, which attracts leading researchers and decision makers from around the world, and delivers a step change in multi-disciplinary research and dissemination. It will come to be seen as the natural locus for challenging debates about transport research and policy issues among academics across the social sciences, and be the first port of call for central government departments, consultants and other organisations wishing to draw on the broad expertise of the academic community."

More specifically, UKTRC offers a number of 'unique selling points':

• It is multi-disciplinary and cross institutional in nature.
• While UK based, it draws on international expertise, both among academics and practitioners
• It is developing a wide ranging, yet targeted research programme that draws upon the best academic expertise in relevant disciplines.
• For each research activity, it brings together social scientists from outside transport to work with appropriate transport specialists.
• The main research projects have in common that they are leading edge and innovative in nature, and different to those that are normally funded.
• It provides funding opportunities for initiatives that are perceived to be difficult to fund under current initiatives. In particular for:
  • New kinds of institutional and disciplinary groupings
  • Cross cutting reviews
  • Synthesis and interpretation
  • It provides the research and practitioner communities with a targeted asset base to underpin and stimulate new forms of collaboration, to ensure that collective knowledge and experience is used to best effect and not lost, and to assist in the longer term evolution of the field.
  • There is a strong emphasis throughout on academic and practitioner engagement, with an on-going process of co-production in the development of research ideas and activities, and the rapid dissemination of findings into practice through targeted knowledge transfer activities.
  • There is a strong emphasis on human capacity building, through a programme of studentships and scholarships among the UKTRC institutions, with events such as an annual Summer School open to other interested students and academics.
  • Involvement in UKTRC of most of the main UK transport research groups will help to ensure speedy uptake of outputs, both in teaching and research.
  • UKTRC will provide a range of outputs, from research reports to briefing notes and e-bulletins, to keep the academic, policy and practitioner communities fully aware both of its activities and wider developments in the academic community.
  • It is intended that UKTRC will develop into an international centre of excellence.

Challenge Activities

A key function of UKTRC is to stimulate debate and challenge current thinking and practice. This process is aided by two forms of activity:

1. Policy-led challenges to the research projects

   The aim is to confront researchers with policy-related questions that they should bear in mind during their work and is of two kinds:

   • Scenario based: e.g. how would a doubling of fuel prices affect your findings?
   • Impact based: e.g. what are the implications of your work for addressing gender inequalities?

2. Research-led challenges

   The aim here is to question public or policy perceptions/conventions and myths, drawing on the UKTRC evidence base, resulting from its own work and the synthesis of the work of others. This involves two kinds of target audience:

   • The public and the media: (e.g. tackling misperceptions about congestion)
   • Established policy thinking and accompanying methodologies (e.g. providing a political philosophy perspective on appraisal)