Final Report Summary - YEAR-2010 (Young European arena of research - 2010)
The Young European arena of research 2010 was a competition for early-stage researchers across Europe who are exploring the area of transport within their research. Students were asked to submit an abstract online under one of six pillars, all of which are now on public display on the competition website (see http://http://year2010.fehrl.org/ online). YEAR-2010 complemented the goals of the 'Transport research arena' (TRA) conference, TRA-2010 in Brussels, Belgium. The project's goal was to stimulate interest among young researchers in the conference and contribute to establishing it as the premier transport event in the world. YEAR-2010 was funded by the European Commission (EC) under the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7).
During the TRA-2010 conference in June 2010, the presence of the 50 YEAR2010 finalists highlighted the participation of young researchers at the event. They were all acknowledged in the designated exhibition space where each student presented a poster of their research. A large majority of the delegates attending the conference visited this student space, stimulating the minds of the early-stage researchers and the established researchers alike. The finalists in the YEAR-2010 competition were identified as the top performing amongst the 338 submissions on the YEAR-2010 website from across Europe. Amongst these 50 finalists, the winning gold, silver and bronze medalists of each pillar were identified during the opening ceremony and were awarded their prizes on stage by Dr Wolfgang Steiger, chairman of the European Road Transport Research Advisory Council (ERTRAC).
The website http://year2010.traconference.eu/ is the tool that has produced a community of young European researchers by creating a central location where the work of all those that submitted an abstract is hosted and can be easily downloaded. Both early-stage researchers and established researchers can browse this site and communicate with fellow researchers in other European States, and begin collaborating on various aspects of road transport research. In total the project received 338 applications for 33 different countries. To summarise, the YEAR-2010 competition had several benefits:
- All eligible entrants have their abstracts displayed on the YEAR-2010 webpages. This provides them with the opportunity to view their abstract in the context of what others are doing, to compare their work to the work of others and to make contact with others working in similar fields. They also have their work on display at the site and may be contacted by stakeholders or industry with an interest in the deliverables.
- The finalists gained a more prominent forum to display their work to up to 1200 delegates at TRA-2010. They also had an important opportunity to meet each other and to discuss their work with researchers from all over Europe.
- The finalists were introduced to TRA-2010. They saw research presented by mature researchers from all over Europe and had the opportunity to participate in discussions between researchers, stakeholders and EC officials. They benefited greatly from this exposure to the expanding European community of transport researchers.
- The delegates benefited from being exposed to the enthusiasm and innovation of the young researchers of Europe. They had the opportunity to view the exhibition showing a great variety of research approaches to a great variety of problems - both new and 'traditional' and perhaps getting a glimpse of the future of transport.
- The general public and the media had an opportunity to see the work of young transport researchers and possible future visions, presented in the context of the ERTRAC vision. Many journalists visited the stands and interviewed finalists. Press releases and quotes from the judges were provided.
The outputs of the project were three-fold:
1. The 50 finalists were given the opportunity to experience an international conference with 1200 delegates and were given the chance to share their work with stakeholders and policy-makers from all over Europe.
2. All 338 students who submitted an abstract online got to share their work with their peers, and compare their findings with fellow students, and perhaps from collaborations.
3. Delegates that attended TRA-2010 had the opportunity to discuss wide-ranging research with students who had fresh and original ideas and who could potentially be recruited into their companies.
Project context and objectives:
The objectives of the YEAR-2010 project were to:
- have a strong participation of young transportation researchers in the TRA-2010 conference;
- identify the top performing young researchers in all modes of surface transportation and acknowledge their achievement;
- further develop the TRA conference as the premier series in its field in the world;
- build a vibrant community of young transport researchers in the European Union (EU), EU candidate and potential candidate countries and the European economic area;
- promote an inter-disciplinary approach, linking basic science, socioeconomic and applied sciences / engineering;
- stimulate the imagination of delegates at the TRA-2010 conference and provoke discussion on the future of surface transport;
- promote interaction between young transport researchers working in different modes.
The YEAR-2010 project continued to build on the success of the YEAR-2008 competition in which 47 students from all over Europe were brought to the TRA-2008 conference in Slovenia and 18 were presented with gold, silver and bronze medals by the Commissioner for Research and Science at the opening ceremony. The format of the YEAR-2010 student competition was analogous to the Olympic Games and it complemented the goals of the TRA conference, TRA-2010 in Brussels, Belgium in June of that year. The goal was to stimulate interest among young researchers in the conference and contribute to establishing it as the premier Transport event in the world. YEAR 2010 directly supported the TRA event and reinforced its profile as a major European and internationally important conference. This was in accordance with the TRA mission, which is not to be another conference but rather to become the major joining event for transport stakeholders.
The YEAR-2010 competition had six scientific pillars that matched the TRA-2010 conference pillars. In addition, there was a category 'Future vision' in which students were asked to present their vision of the future of transport, in the context of the European Conference of Transport Research Institutes (ECTRI) and ERTRAC visions.
The YEAR concept is to have an Olympics for early-stage transport researchers which will promote their interest and involvement in the strategic objectives of ECTRI and the TRA stakeholders in 2010, these were Conference of European Directors of Roads (CEDR), ERTRAC and the EC. The competition had two stages, with complementary objectives.
In the first stage, a large number of young researchers (338) from across 33 European countries submitted abstracts to the competition, giving a short summary of their research or future vision and the expected deliverables. The abstracts were vetted and, if consistent with the rules and standards, were published in the YEAR website (see http://year2010.fehrl.org/ online). This collection of abstracts represents a showcase of European research and is available for viewing by all those interested in this topic. It is linked to other websites and has its own search engine.
As part of this first stage of the competition, the abstracts were reviewed by a judging panel of European transportation experts. The judges were drawn from a wide range of regions and sectors, utilising the networks of FEHRL, ERTRAC and ECTRI in particular. Judges included university professors, industry experts, roads authority experts, etc. A particular effort was made to ensure a good representation from New Member States (NMS) amongst the judging panel. The two partners of the consortium from NMS, a university and a research institute, were responsible for this. The judges reduced the list of applicants to 80 and senior judges 'Pillar leaders' did a second review and cut this number further to 50 finalists. These 50 finalists were brought to the TRA-2010 conference in Belgium for the second stage of the competition. The second stage competition was based on an exhibition of the young researchers work in a dedicated area of the conference, located in a prominent position. Each finalist was assigned a specified space in which to display their research or vision. All were required to prepare posters of a given size but other modes of display were also encouraged such as video clips, models and audio displays.
Pillar leaders (senior judges) reviewed the finalists' displays at the conference and, on the basis of both the display and the abstract, selected gold, silver and bronze medal winners in each of the core pillar areas. In addition to the core pillar areas, there were gold, silver and bronze medals in the 'Future vision' and interdisciplinary pillars.
Potential impact:
The YEAR-2010 had several benefits:
1. All eligible entrants (up to 338) have their abstracts displayed on the YEAR webpages which were linked to the TRA-2010 site. This has provided them with the opportunity to view their abstract in the context of what others are doing, to compare their work to the work of others and to make contact with others working in similar fields. Multidisciplinary approaches were encouraged by the multidisciplinary category but also by the mixing of so many disciplines in one website and exhibition.
2. The finalists benefited from a prominent forum to display their work to up to 1200 delegates at TRA-2010. They also had the opportunity to meet each other and to discuss their work with researchers from all over Europe.
3. The finalists were introduced to TRA-2010. They saw research presented by mature researchers from all over Europe and had the opportunity to participate in discussions between researchers, stakeholders and EC officials. They benefited greatly from this exposure to the expanding European community of transport researchers in the European Research Area (ERA).
4. The delegates benefited from being exposed to the enthusiasm and innovation of the young researchers of Europe. They had the opportunity to view the exhibition showing a great variety of research approaches to a great variety of problems both new and ?traditional and perhaps getting a glimpse of the future of transport.
5. The general public and the media (journalists) benefited from an opportunity to see the work of young transport researchers and possible future visions. There were about 100 journalists registered for TRA-2010. Many of these journalists spent time talking to the student finalists and there was a strong uptake of the student biographies, quotes from the judges and media-friendly project descriptions developed by the YEAR team.
Project website: http://year2010.fehrl.org/
During the TRA-2010 conference in June 2010, the presence of the 50 YEAR2010 finalists highlighted the participation of young researchers at the event. They were all acknowledged in the designated exhibition space where each student presented a poster of their research. A large majority of the delegates attending the conference visited this student space, stimulating the minds of the early-stage researchers and the established researchers alike. The finalists in the YEAR-2010 competition were identified as the top performing amongst the 338 submissions on the YEAR-2010 website from across Europe. Amongst these 50 finalists, the winning gold, silver and bronze medalists of each pillar were identified during the opening ceremony and were awarded their prizes on stage by Dr Wolfgang Steiger, chairman of the European Road Transport Research Advisory Council (ERTRAC).
The website http://year2010.traconference.eu/ is the tool that has produced a community of young European researchers by creating a central location where the work of all those that submitted an abstract is hosted and can be easily downloaded. Both early-stage researchers and established researchers can browse this site and communicate with fellow researchers in other European States, and begin collaborating on various aspects of road transport research. In total the project received 338 applications for 33 different countries. To summarise, the YEAR-2010 competition had several benefits:
- All eligible entrants have their abstracts displayed on the YEAR-2010 webpages. This provides them with the opportunity to view their abstract in the context of what others are doing, to compare their work to the work of others and to make contact with others working in similar fields. They also have their work on display at the site and may be contacted by stakeholders or industry with an interest in the deliverables.
- The finalists gained a more prominent forum to display their work to up to 1200 delegates at TRA-2010. They also had an important opportunity to meet each other and to discuss their work with researchers from all over Europe.
- The finalists were introduced to TRA-2010. They saw research presented by mature researchers from all over Europe and had the opportunity to participate in discussions between researchers, stakeholders and EC officials. They benefited greatly from this exposure to the expanding European community of transport researchers.
- The delegates benefited from being exposed to the enthusiasm and innovation of the young researchers of Europe. They had the opportunity to view the exhibition showing a great variety of research approaches to a great variety of problems - both new and 'traditional' and perhaps getting a glimpse of the future of transport.
- The general public and the media had an opportunity to see the work of young transport researchers and possible future visions, presented in the context of the ERTRAC vision. Many journalists visited the stands and interviewed finalists. Press releases and quotes from the judges were provided.
The outputs of the project were three-fold:
1. The 50 finalists were given the opportunity to experience an international conference with 1200 delegates and were given the chance to share their work with stakeholders and policy-makers from all over Europe.
2. All 338 students who submitted an abstract online got to share their work with their peers, and compare their findings with fellow students, and perhaps from collaborations.
3. Delegates that attended TRA-2010 had the opportunity to discuss wide-ranging research with students who had fresh and original ideas and who could potentially be recruited into their companies.
Project context and objectives:
The objectives of the YEAR-2010 project were to:
- have a strong participation of young transportation researchers in the TRA-2010 conference;
- identify the top performing young researchers in all modes of surface transportation and acknowledge their achievement;
- further develop the TRA conference as the premier series in its field in the world;
- build a vibrant community of young transport researchers in the European Union (EU), EU candidate and potential candidate countries and the European economic area;
- promote an inter-disciplinary approach, linking basic science, socioeconomic and applied sciences / engineering;
- stimulate the imagination of delegates at the TRA-2010 conference and provoke discussion on the future of surface transport;
- promote interaction between young transport researchers working in different modes.
The YEAR-2010 project continued to build on the success of the YEAR-2008 competition in which 47 students from all over Europe were brought to the TRA-2008 conference in Slovenia and 18 were presented with gold, silver and bronze medals by the Commissioner for Research and Science at the opening ceremony. The format of the YEAR-2010 student competition was analogous to the Olympic Games and it complemented the goals of the TRA conference, TRA-2010 in Brussels, Belgium in June of that year. The goal was to stimulate interest among young researchers in the conference and contribute to establishing it as the premier Transport event in the world. YEAR 2010 directly supported the TRA event and reinforced its profile as a major European and internationally important conference. This was in accordance with the TRA mission, which is not to be another conference but rather to become the major joining event for transport stakeholders.
The YEAR-2010 competition had six scientific pillars that matched the TRA-2010 conference pillars. In addition, there was a category 'Future vision' in which students were asked to present their vision of the future of transport, in the context of the European Conference of Transport Research Institutes (ECTRI) and ERTRAC visions.
The YEAR concept is to have an Olympics for early-stage transport researchers which will promote their interest and involvement in the strategic objectives of ECTRI and the TRA stakeholders in 2010, these were Conference of European Directors of Roads (CEDR), ERTRAC and the EC. The competition had two stages, with complementary objectives.
In the first stage, a large number of young researchers (338) from across 33 European countries submitted abstracts to the competition, giving a short summary of their research or future vision and the expected deliverables. The abstracts were vetted and, if consistent with the rules and standards, were published in the YEAR website (see http://year2010.fehrl.org/ online). This collection of abstracts represents a showcase of European research and is available for viewing by all those interested in this topic. It is linked to other websites and has its own search engine.
As part of this first stage of the competition, the abstracts were reviewed by a judging panel of European transportation experts. The judges were drawn from a wide range of regions and sectors, utilising the networks of FEHRL, ERTRAC and ECTRI in particular. Judges included university professors, industry experts, roads authority experts, etc. A particular effort was made to ensure a good representation from New Member States (NMS) amongst the judging panel. The two partners of the consortium from NMS, a university and a research institute, were responsible for this. The judges reduced the list of applicants to 80 and senior judges 'Pillar leaders' did a second review and cut this number further to 50 finalists. These 50 finalists were brought to the TRA-2010 conference in Belgium for the second stage of the competition. The second stage competition was based on an exhibition of the young researchers work in a dedicated area of the conference, located in a prominent position. Each finalist was assigned a specified space in which to display their research or vision. All were required to prepare posters of a given size but other modes of display were also encouraged such as video clips, models and audio displays.
Pillar leaders (senior judges) reviewed the finalists' displays at the conference and, on the basis of both the display and the abstract, selected gold, silver and bronze medal winners in each of the core pillar areas. In addition to the core pillar areas, there were gold, silver and bronze medals in the 'Future vision' and interdisciplinary pillars.
Potential impact:
The YEAR-2010 had several benefits:
1. All eligible entrants (up to 338) have their abstracts displayed on the YEAR webpages which were linked to the TRA-2010 site. This has provided them with the opportunity to view their abstract in the context of what others are doing, to compare their work to the work of others and to make contact with others working in similar fields. Multidisciplinary approaches were encouraged by the multidisciplinary category but also by the mixing of so many disciplines in one website and exhibition.
2. The finalists benefited from a prominent forum to display their work to up to 1200 delegates at TRA-2010. They also had the opportunity to meet each other and to discuss their work with researchers from all over Europe.
3. The finalists were introduced to TRA-2010. They saw research presented by mature researchers from all over Europe and had the opportunity to participate in discussions between researchers, stakeholders and EC officials. They benefited greatly from this exposure to the expanding European community of transport researchers in the European Research Area (ERA).
4. The delegates benefited from being exposed to the enthusiasm and innovation of the young researchers of Europe. They had the opportunity to view the exhibition showing a great variety of research approaches to a great variety of problems both new and ?traditional and perhaps getting a glimpse of the future of transport.
5. The general public and the media (journalists) benefited from an opportunity to see the work of young transport researchers and possible future visions. There were about 100 journalists registered for TRA-2010. Many of these journalists spent time talking to the student finalists and there was a strong uptake of the student biographies, quotes from the judges and media-friendly project descriptions developed by the YEAR team.
Project website: http://year2010.fehrl.org/