Visit from Dr Kedar Pandya

18 July 2024

The team welcomed Kedar, Executive Director of Cross-Council Programmes at the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), to the DARe offices as part of his wider visit to Newcastle University.

Professor Daniel Coca, Head of the School of Engineering, started the visit by exploring how DARe fits into the wider research environment and scope at Newcastle University, complimenting other transport-focussed projects.

Professor Phil Blythe, DARe Hub Director, then shared an update on the Hub’s aims and progress made so far. Our stakeholders and partners have helped to shape our research programme and direction during our Co-Creation Stakeholder Workshops (1 and 2), providing their input on the challenges they are facing at different levels, and what our ideal transport system of the future looks like to them. The Hub is working closely with EPSRC, and the Department for Transport (DfT), to also explore transport problems they are seeking to address at a more national scale. One of the crucial things that has emerged so far, is the need to connect and bring together key players and stakeholders from across the transport sector, so that they can communicate and work together. As the programme further takes shape, the DARe team will co-create storylines with our partners that can then be turned into modelling challenges.

David Alvarez Castro, DARe Research Assistant, delivered a presentation demonstrating some of the modelling and simulation work carried out in Work Package 2 so far, which is focused on utilising and integrating different models (e.g. local climate and transport models) to provide insights into resilience challenges for different locations. The famous ‘Toon Monsoon’, flash-flooding that hit Newcastle and the Northeast on 28th June 2012, caused chaos for transport users as different systems were impacted by the extreme weather. David demonstrated that by using events like this, the WP2 team can create simulations and models of elements including urban flow pathways, water depth and velocity, the relationship between water depth and vehicle speed, and the lingering effects of such an event. This data can then aid in the analysis of impacts from different perspectives, and the identification of strategies to test for improving transport resilience. Work Package 2’s aim is to develop a modelling framework and set of tools that can be applied anywhere in the UK, that sets out how to analyse resilience, and identify the next best steps for decision makers to take.

The DARe team then enjoyed some great discussions with Dr Kedar Pandya, about the potential futures of transport, net zero, resilience, and climate adaptation. We look forward to welcoming him back again soon to share further progress.