NTSA research school 2025
‘Integrated approach to traffic safety’
13–16 May 2025
Trondheim, Norway
Local organizers: Thomas Jonsson, Eirin Ryeng
The seminar is held in close co-operation with the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
About
Important dates
| Date | Action |
|---|---|
|
28 March 2025 |
Registration deadline (for presenting participants) |
|
25 April 2025 |
Registration deadline (participants without presentation) |
|
13–16 May 2025 |
NTSA research school 2025 |
Social media
Call
Topic description
Historically, traffic safety has been seen as a separate domain with well-defined problem borders, stakeholders, and relatively uniform toolbox of measures to choose from. Such approach works well for some time—indeed, significant progress has been reached in many countries by simply rolling out the ‘engineering-education-enforcement’ measures and strengthening the ‘road safety pillars’. However, countries that came far in this work (and became global best-performers in traffic safety) start to realize that continuing as usual, doing ‘more of the same’, will not be enough to reach the Vision Zero objective. New partnerships and synergies outside the traditional silo need to be engaged to ensure continuation in traffic safety improvements.
These synergies can be found within other domains addressing challenges such as climate change, green mobility transition, liveable urban environment, public and children health, corporate responsibility and work environment protection, and so on. Many of them are part of the UN Global Agenda for Sustainable Development. Very often, improvements in these areas automatically spill over positive effects on traffic safety, too. Being more aware of such effects, actively seeking them through new collaborations, and maximizing their magnitude through better knowledge and understanding of the related domains, is the new ‘must’ for traffic safety researchers and specialists.
The research school organized by the Nordic Traffic Safety Academy (NTSA) aims at providing insights on how the best-practice in traffic safety can be further enriched by measures that have traditionally not been a part of the toolbox. It will also help to see traffic safety as a part of a bigger—integrated—context.
Research school
The research school is scheduled for four full days. The time will be shared between top-level experts in the subject sharing their experiences, as well as the early career researchers who will have an opportunity to present their research work and ideas, receive feedback, and engage in discussions and networking.
The school targets primarily PhD students and postdocs working on problems that resonate with the announced topic. It is open, however, to the broad community of traffic safety professionals interested in the subject.
Participation formats
The participants can choose between two participation options:
- attending and presenting own research topic (with feedback from the expert faculty panel)
- just attending without a presentation.
Needless to say, you will get much more from the research school if you make a presentation, and actively engage in the discussions and other activities.
The number of student presentations is limited by the time slots available, ‘first come, first served’ apply.
ECTS credits
Participants who contribute with a presentation will receive a special certificate from the NTSA recommending to assign 1.5 ECTS credits for participation in the research school. The final decision has to be taken by the student’s home university and the NTSA cannot guarantee its outcome.
Programme
Course venue
The NTSA Research School takes place at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, NTNU.
Address: Høgskoleringen 7a, Trondheim (GoogleMaps link).
Room: tbd
12 May 2025
18:00–19:30 Welcome reception
Welcome reception will take place at the course venue (V-building).
Since it is out-of-ordinary hours, the building will be locked. We will meet the participants at the entrance at around 18:00. If you are running late, call us upon arrival and we will let you in (see Contact).
13 May 2025
9:00–10:20 ‘...‘
Matts-Åke Belin
World Health Organization
Switzerland
Matts-Åke Belin is Global Lead for the Decade of Acton for Road Safety at the World Health Organization.
Dr. Belin has over 30 years of experience within the Swedish government, primarily working with the overall safety policies, strategies, and collaborations with different stakeholders. He was deeply involved in the preparation and organization of the 3rd Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety that took place in Stockholm, Sweden, in February 2020. Before joining the World Health Organization, Dr. Belin was the Director of the Vision Zero Academy at the Swedish Transport Administration.
Matts-Åke Belin has a PhD in public health policy from Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. He has been affiliated with KTH Royal Technology Institute in Stockholm as an adjunct professor on traffic safety. Dr. Belin was responsible for the research program (funded by the Swedish Transport Administration) on policy implementation and innovation within the transport sector with focus on Vision Zero.
10:20–10:40 Coffee break
10:40–12:00 ‘Building bridges: Towards a sustainability goal integration in traffic safety’
Hanna Wennberg
Lund University
Sweden
Hanna Wennberg has her core research interest in policy implementation within traffic safety and sustainable transport, by societal actors as well as by companies and organisations, and with a focus on sustainability goal integration approaches.
Hanna works at the consultancy and research company Trivector Traffic AB in Lund, and is also connected to Lund University doing research and supervision. Her ambition has always been to bring together perspectives from research and practice, since she completed her PhD in 2009 at Lund University.
Hanna has developed several handbooks and tools for practitioners, for example on planning and design for pedestrians and cyclists as well as for systematic traffic safety implementation in public and private organizations. Her focus in research has also been on mobility of older people and on social perspectives and gender equality.
12:00–13:00 Lunch
13:00–14:30 Student presentations
‘Value-based interactions between autonomous vehicles and pedestrians’
Josephine Halama
Chemnitz University of Technology
Germany
‘Decoding pedestrian road crossing behavior: Insights from behavioral experiments and cognitive models’
Max Theisen
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
Germany
14:30–15:00 Coffee break
15:00–16:30 Student presentations
‘Social and spatial planning dimensions of walking’
Luisa Merlo
Luleå University of technology
Sweden
16:30–16:45 Summary and reflection
17:30–19:30 Social activity
Course participants are welcome to join us at the Paradis billiards club. The club offers different games (shuffleboard, pool, carambole), and if you never held a cue in your hands it is still lots of fun!
The facility has also a pub and a restaurant.
Address: Bredgatan 10, Lund (GoogleMaps link).
14 May 2025
9:00–10:20 ‘How to internalize traffic safety into work environment obligations’
Maria Krafft
Director of Traffic Safety
Swedish Transport Administration
Sweden
Since 2015, Maria Krafft is Director of Traffic Safety at the Swedish Transport Administration. Before that she was the head of the division for Traffic Safety Research and Environment at Folksam, a Swedish insurance company.
Maria completed her PhD in 1998 at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, and since 2010 she is Associate Professor at Umeå University. Maria is a member of the Academic Expert Group for the 3rd (2020) and 4th (2025) Global Ministerial Conferences on Road Safety. For the 4th conference, she acts also as a member of the High-Level Consultative Committee.
10:20–10:40 Coffee break
10:40–12:00 ‘...’
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Rune Elvik
Institute of Transport Economics
Norway
Rune Elvik has been a road safety researcher at the Institute of Transport Economics since 1980. His main areas of research have been evaluation studies, meta-analysis and cost-benefit analysis.
Rune Elvik served as editor-in-chief (together with Karl Kim) of Accident Analysis and Prevention from 2005 to 2013. He has participated in many European projects and contributed to the Highway Safety Manual. He has published more than 150 papers in scientific journals.
12:00–13:00 Lunch
13:00–14:30 Student presentations
‘Pedestrian behavior and road safety: microsimulation approach’
Chiara Gruden
University of Maribor
Slovenia
‘Impact of advanced driver assistance systems on pedestrian safety in Europe in 2030’
Antonio Fadel da Costa
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd
Finland
14:30–15:00 Coffee break
15:00–16:30 Student presentations
16:30–16:45 Summary and reflections
15 May 2025
9:00–10:20 ‘...’
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10:20–10:40 Coffee break
10:40–12:00 ‘...’
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12:00–13:00 Lunch
13:00–14:30 Student presentations
14:30–15:00 Coffee break
15:00–16:30 Student presentations
16:30–16:45 Summary and reflection
18:00–20:00 Social dinner
We will meet for a conference dinner at Hos Talevski restaurant located in the Lund City Park.
The park itself is one of the nicest places Lund has to offer, so take you chance to come earlier and have a walk around.
Address: Stadsparksgatan, Lund (GoogleMaps link).
16 May 2025
9:00–10:20 ‘...’
Lars Ekman
Swedish Transport Administration
Sweden
Dr. Lars Ekman has a background as researcher at Lund University, Sweden. His research focused on traffic safety evaluation applied on pedestrians and bicyclists. Lars Ekman has also for a long time been involved in international collaborations in the field of traffic safety both on a European with CEDR and global arena. At present, he works as an expert in traffic safety at the Swedish Transport Administration with special emphasis on traffic safety countermeasures.
Lars Ekman popular speaker on the topic of The Vision Zero, often in connection to the Vision Zero Academy.
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10:20–10:40 Coffee break
10:40–12:00 ‘...’
Aliaksei Laureshyn
Lund University
Sweden
Aliaksei Laureshyn is Associate Professor in traffic safety at Lund University, Sweden. His primary research interests deal with theory and practical use of pro-active methods in road safety analysis. He is an active member in several international committees and working groups related to the subject of Surrogate Measures of Safety (SMoS). Other research interests include emerging technologies for data collection in traffic, policy and practice in road safety work, particularly in the view of Vision Zero/Safe System paradigm.
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12:00–13:00 Lunch
13:00–14:30 Student presentations
14:30–15:00 Coffee break
15:00–15:30 Closure and goodbye
Registration
Participation fees
Participation fee: SEK 6500 (≈ €580, see exchange rate here)
The participation fee includes welcome reception and lunch/coffee-breaks all days.
Social Dinner (optional, but highly recommended): SEK 750 (≈ €65, see exchange rate here)
Deadline for registration / payment:
- presenting participants: 29 March 2024
- not presenting participants: 26 April 2024
Presentation abstract
Participants aiming at making a presentation are requested to provide an abstract (max 1 page) describing their topic. There is no specific template to follow, but make sure that you describe sufficiently what research question you are dealing with and how far you have come in your work.
Since the main purpose of the research school is to facilitate the scientific discussion, work-in-progress presentations are welcomed and even encourgared.
Registration form
Registration is now closed.
The payment service will remain open for participants running late with their fees (upon agreement).
Payment procedure
Please, note that your registration is not finalized until you have completed the payment.
The credit card payment service is provided by the Lund University’s economy department. Please, use the link below to access the service (opens in a new page).
In case of inability to pay by a credit card, please, get in contact with the organizers to discuss the alternatives.
Travel
Getting to Lund
By train
There are both long-distance and local trains stopping in Lund. These include the Öresund train, the joint Swedish-Danish train system covering eastern Denmark and southern Sweden (so called ‘Greater Copenhagen’ area). Öresund train is a part of the public transport system, see below.
The long-distance trains are operated by the SJ company. See the schedules and buy tickets on their web page here (opens in a new window).
Note also that the train ticket allows you to use the local city buses and trams upon arrival.
By air
To reach Lund, the most convenient airport is Kastrup, Copenhagen (Denmark). It has connections to most of the major cities in Europe and worldwide. Öresund train takes you directly from the airport to Lund in about 40 minutes. Use the app to buy your ticket (see below).
Some low-cost connections are available through the Malmö airport Skurup.
Public transport in and around Lund
It is a very good idea to download and set up the app from the local public transport company Skånetrafiken in advance. It is available in Engish, is very intuitive to use and it gives you 10% discount right away:
- Download from Google Play here (opens in a new window)
- Download from Apple App Store here (opens in a new window).
You can buy a ticket for your trip from Kastrup airport in the app.
To get from the Lund railway station to the Department of Technology and Society, use the tram line. Your destination stop is called ‘LTH’. Your train ticket is valid for about one hour after arrival to Lund, so you can just step on and ride. Otherwise, just use the app to buy a new ticket.
The same is valid for the local buses. Use the app to find the best route and right connections.
Cycling, walking and using e-scooters
Lund is truly a bicycle city where everyone bikes. It is an experience you should not miss. Most probably, your hotel will have some bikes to borrow.
There are several e-scooter sharing companies operating in Lund. There is also a bicycle sharing system called Lundahoj which, however, we DO NOT recommend. It is slowly ‘dying out’, with old bikes and unbalanced location of the docking station.
If you are moving in the central part of the city, all distances are walkable. It takes only 20 minutes to walk from the railway station to the department.
Accomodation
The university does not have any special agreements with hotels, so use Booking.com or similar services to book your room. Aim at the hotels in the city centre, in this case you will be close to everything. There are also a couple of hotels in the outskirts of the city.
An alternative could be to stay in Malmö, which is a bigger city. There are frequent trains between Lund and Malmö (taking only 10 minutes) and direct buses between the cities passing close to the department. Again, use the Skånetrafiken app to find the best connection.
Contact
| NTSA | Local organizers | |
|---|---|---|
|
Contact person |
Carmelo D'Agostino |
Thomas Jonsson |
|
Affiliation |
NTSA Chairman |
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty of Enginering Norwegian University of Science and Technology Norway |
|
Email |
||
|
Telephone |
