Keynote Speakers

Young Tae Kim

Secretary-General, International Transport Forum (ITF) at OECD

The role of international collaboration in fostering best-practice transport policy
The International Transport Forum (ITF) at the OECD is the only intergovernmental organisation that covers all modes of transport. Drawing on the ITF’s work with 69 member countries across six continents, Secretary-General Kim will outline how international collaboration can help countries address shared, yet locally unique, challenges in the pursuit of efficient, sustainable and equitable transport systems that meet the needs of current and future generations. Through selected case studies, he will demonstrate how the ITF acts as a catalyst – bringing together the research and policy making communities to translate innovative evidence-based international best-practice into local policy solutions.” 
Keynote Bio
Dr. Young Tae Kim is Secretary-General of the International Transport Forum at the OECD since 2017. Under his leadership, ITF grew from 59 to 69 member countries. Previously, he served as Director-General at Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. He holds a doctorate from Sciences-Po Paris and speaks Korean, English, French, and Spanish.

Nadia Gkritza

Professor, Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering
Purdue University, USA

Powering the Future: Driving Sustainable Transportation Through Infrastructure Innovation and Public Adoption
Transportation faces transformation through emerging technologies enabling sustainable mobility. The National Science Foundation funded ASPIRE Engineering Research Centre to develop integrated zero-emissions mobility solutions in the US. ASPIRE unites multidisciplinary teams across Utah State University, Purdue, University of Texas El Paso, University Colorado Boulder, and University of Auckland. The centre advances wireless and plug-in charging technologies for all vehicle classes while investigating behavioural responses to new mobility systems. By combining technical innovation with public adoption studies, ASPIRE aims to reshape transportation and electric utility sectors, ensuring solutions are technically feasible, socially acceptable, and environmentally sustainable to inform policy decisions.
Keynote Bio
Konstantina (Nadia) Gkritza is a Professor at the Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering at Purdue University, University Faculty Scholar and Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). She directs the Sustainable Transportation Systems Research Group, and the NSF ASPIRE Engineering Research Center. She is Associate Editor of the ASCE Journal of Transportation Engineering and serves on the Transportation Research Part D’s Editorial Board. Dr. Gkritza holds degrees from the National Technical University of Athens, Virginia Polytechnic, and Purdue University.

Dr Rico Merkert

Professor and Chair in Transport and Supply Chain Management
The University of Sydney Business School

Air Travel and Supply Chains in Transition: Will Innovation Deliver Sustainability and Keep Aviation Affordable?
Aviation plays a critical role in enabling mobility, business, and leisure —especially in geographically isolated regions like Australia and New Zealand. Globally, it underpins supply chains, drives economic growth, and supports millions of jobs. Yet, as the sector emerges from recent and ongoing disruptions, it faces mounting pressure to evolve. This keynote explores the critical challenges and transformative opportunities confronting aviation today. In particular, with air transport demand projected to double by 2050, current decarbonisation strategies may fall short — economically and environmentally — in meeting the industry’s net-zero goals. What innovations are being proposed to bridge this gap? Will they be sufficient? We examine the future-ready workforce and how digitisation and door-to-door integration inclusive of behavioural shifts will shape aviation’s transition. Can these forces help maintain affordability and accessibility in air travel while supporting sustainability? This talk invites reflection on the future of aviation supply chains and the innovation imperative that lies ahead.
Keynote Bio
Professor Rico Merkert chairs Transport and Supply Chain Management at University of Sydney’s Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies. He holds a PhD from Leeds and serves as Associate Editor of Transportation Research Part E. His research on strategic management, supply chain analysis, and decarbonisation serves clients including Qantas, World Bank, EU Commission, and major transport companies globally.

Stacey van der Putten

Director Public Transport and Active Modes, Auckland Transport

Affordable Public Transport for Government and Users

Affordability in transport is not just about the price of a bus fare or the scale of an infrastructure project—it is about ensuring that both governments and households can sustain the costs of mobility over the long term. As fiscal pressures mount, funding is constrained, and as households across New Zealand grapple with rising living costs, the question of how to keep transport affordable has never been more urgent.

In this keynote, Stacey van der Putten, Director of Public Transport and Active Modes at Auckland Transport, will examine how public transport can play a pivotal role in delivering affordability at two levels: reducing cost burdens for households and enabling more efficient use of public investment. Drawing on Auckland’s experiences, case studies and the national transport context, she will highlight the challenges with funding models and strategies for aligning service design, infrastructure investment, and pricing to achieve a system that delivers maximum value for money while ensuring no New Zealander is priced out of access to opportunity.

 
Keynote Bio

Stacey van der Putten, Director Public Transport and Active Modes, leads the services development and delivery of Auckland’s public transport and active mode networks. Prior to becoming the Director of Public Transport and Active Modes, Stacey was EGM Safety and before that spent four years leading the Metro Services team at Auckland Transport, playing a vital role supporting the development of Auckland’s multi-modal (bus, train and ferry) public transport network. Stacey is passionate about ensuring Auckland has a safe, accessible, resilient transport system which delivers real benefits to the people of Tāmaki Makaurau. Previous to AT, Stacey spent 15 years in the private sector, the majority of which was spent developing service solutions for various sectors, including public housing, healthcare, construction and defence sectors. 

Stacey is the current Chair of the Aotearoa Australasian Railway Association (ARA) Committee, a TrackSafe board trustee and a board director of the Public Transport Association of Australia & New Zealand (PTAANZ).

Dr Shimul (Md. Mazharul) Haque

Head of School, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Professor & Transport Engineering
Director, Smart Transport Safety Research Lab (STSR-Lab)
Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Australia

Next-generation Transport Safety Using AI-based Video Analytics and Econometric Models
Traditional road safety assessments require an unusually large number of crashes to accrue before transport infrastructure can be diagnosed for safety. As such, traditional road safety models do not provide a complete picture of crash risk and are not capable of offering real-time road safety information. In this regard, high-resolution data extracted from sensors like video cameras, LiDAR, and in-vehicle sensors offer unprecedented advantages in understanding transport safety. For instance, Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based video analytics, together with traffic conflict techniques, offer a viable alternative for real-time assessment of transport infrastructure. In addition, high-quality trajectories captured by Autonomous vehicles as probes have also opened doors to revisit transport safety analytics. However, without considering the theoretical foundation of traffic conflicts and crashes, the estimation of crash risks might be misleading. This talk will present recent developments in traffic conflict techniques to estimate crash risks from traffic conflicts by jointly applying econometric and machine learning models. This talk will cover how high-resolution data have been used to assess crash risk at transport facilities and demonstrate some use cases for real-time safety assessments and before-after evaluation of engineering treatments.
Keynote Bio
Professor Shimul Haque heads Civil and Environmental Engineering at Queensland University of Technology and directs the Smart Transport Safety Research Lab. Specialising in econometrics and AI applications for traffic safety, he’s delivered 20+ road safety projects and published 200+ papers. He’s Editor-in-Chief of Analytical Methods in Accident Research and co-founded Advanced Mobility Analytics Group.

Michelle McCormick

Infrastructure New Zealand Policy Director

Pathways to Sustainable Transport: Funding, Financing, and Affordability

Building and maintaining a transport system that is both accessible and inclusive relies on more than good design, it requires financial systems that are fair, resilient, and sustainable. The critical links between funding mechanisms, financing strategies, and system-wide affordability from a national perspective will be explored. How do nations can balance the pressures of rising costs with the imperative to invest in innovation, resilience, and equity. By unpacking the trade-offs between who pays, how investments are prioritised, and the long-term fiscal realities, the session will provide fresh insights into how transport can remain affordable for communities while delivering the infrastructure required for future generations.

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Keynote Bio

Michelle McCormick joined Infrastructure New Zealand in July 2022 as Policy Director, based in Wellington, bringing with her extensive experience from a career spanning both central and local government in the transport sector.

She has held a variety of policy and planning roles at the Ministry of Transport and NZTA Waka Kotahi, where she contributed to policy development and implementation including investment and evaluation policy.

At Infrastructure New Zealand, Michelle continues to play a key role in shaping policy discussions, and has authored reports based on international study tours.

Michelle holds a Master of Philosophy in Environmental and Resource Planning from Massey University, and a Master of Transport Management from the University of Sydney. She is also a chartered member of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport.

Dr Richard Meade

Principal Economist, Cognitus Economic Insight and Adjunct Associate Professor, CAEEPR Griffith University

Strategic Project Regulation: A 10-Year Retrospective

From August 2015 to October 2016, Richad led a strategic futures project exploring how transport might be regulated in 2025 and beyond. The project used scenario modelling to examine (de)regulatory implications of potentially disruptive technologies like autonomous vehicles and new business models such as transport-as-a-service.

Ten years on, what did the project team get right, and where was its crystal ball a bit cloudy? What does this mean for how future-focused transport regulatory projects should be approached today? Richard will discuss the lessons learned from Regulation 2025, and draws policy-relevant insights for future transport regulatory initiatives.

Keynote Bio

Dr Richard Meade is Principal Economist at Cognitus Economic Insight, Adjunct Associate Professor at Griffith University’s CAEEPR, and High Court Lay Member for Commerce Act matters. He advises government, corporate and Māori organisations on policy/regulatory issues and provides expert economic evidence. Richard conducts competition and regulation research, contributes to media discussions, and holds a PhD from Toulouse School of Economics.

Kim Dirks

Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Auckland, New Zealand

Beyond the road: effects of road infrastructure on individuals and communities
Adequate transport infrastructure is critical for ensuring productive and liveable cities. Part of the solution is equitable access to infrastructure that supports active transport. Using case studies, this talk will explore some of the enablers and barriers to active commuting, the health consequences of mode and route choice and some of the ways in which the design of active mode networks could help improve the equitable uptake of active mode commuting and reduce health disparities across the population.
Keynote Bio

Professor Kim Dirks holds an academic position in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Auckland. With a formal education in physics, Kim has held academic roles across a range of STEM subjects, including population health. She joined the Faculty of Engineering and Design in 2020, motivated by a desire to delve further ‘upstream’, researching the design of urban civil transport infrastructure and green space and its impacts on human health.