DARe Hub welcomes Department for Transport ExCo delegation

The ExCo steers the DfT’s strategic vision, informing policy and making significant management decisions across the Department, overseeing DfT’s priorities to grow and level up the economy, reduce environmental impacts, improve transport for the user, and increase global impact. 

Whilst at Newcastle University, the delegation from DfT visited Hub partners the Urban Traffic Management Centre (UTMC) based in Newcastle Helix, a real-time facility managed in collaboration with the Northeast councils, which monitors the city’s traffic and infrastructure and supports transport research and learning.

After a demonstration from the UTMC team, the group visited the Urban Observatory (UO), based next door to the UTMC and home to the largest set of publicly available real-time urban data in the UK. The UO’s data collection is valuable in helping experts to improve air quality, manage transport growth and traffic congestion, and prepare for climate change. The DARe Hub is already working closely with both the UTMC and UO, utilising both organisation’s quality data and wealth of expertise to strengthen our research and understanding, particularly into aspects like user behaviour and demand, and issues facing public transport modes.

Following that, the group visited Newcastle University’s electric vehicle (EV) rapid charging points. Professor Colin Herron CBE explained how data collected is used to monitor and analyse demand for electricity, which will help in understanding possible impacts on the electricity grid from increasing numbers of EVs in the North East. The facility helps gauge infrastructure requirements for both current and potential future EV users.

The North East is fast becoming established as an international leader in electrification technologies. Professor Brian Walker shared with the group an overview of plans to develop an Electrification Process Innovation Centre (EPIC) at Newcastle University. A collection of engineers, technicians, and academics with skills and knowledge in aspects like battery technology and manufacturing, EPIC will enable and support close collaboration between multiple partners to develop solutions to a host of technical and skills needs arising from the electrification agenda and net zero targets.

To finish the ExCo visit, DARe team members delivered an overview of the project to date, and held a roundtable discussion that brought together senior members of the ExCo, the DARe project team, and industry partners, covering DARe’s priorities and the research and solutions it will deliver.

The new DARe Hub will provide expertise, innovative modelling, and engagement to support net zero transport networks that work for people and communities. Home to world-leading researchers, it will provide expertise, modelling, and data tailored to each area and each transport challenge.