10 Years with the FUT-programme
Ten years ago, the Board of the Volvo Research and Education Foundations (VREF), under the chairmanship of Dr. Arne Wittlöv, decided to focus all its activities on one area: Future Urban Transport — How to deal with complexity (FUT). This book is a progress report on that work, highlighting examples of findings from this research effort.
VREF aims to make a difference, by developing new approaches and new initiatives. Acknowledging the complexities of urban transport and its development within different contexts led VREF to search for new approaches in the field as well as to examine specific urban cases. Therefore, VREF has supported research programmes on all continents demonstrating the variety of progress in the field.
VREF invited proposals for research programmes within the overall framework of FUT. The proposals were reviewed by the VREF Scientific Council with respect to topic, organization, the track record of the principal researchers as well as the prospects of imaginative and promising risk-taking in order to reach new insights. Over the years, interaction between researchers and practitioners has also gained in importance. The VREF Board made the final selection of research programmes and the selected organisations were designated Centres of Excellence (CoE).
Each new CoE was allocated about €2.6 million over five years, provided the outlined research programme and the promised deliveries were followed. VREF has placed heavy emphasis on the ability of the research groups to attract co-funding. In this way, VREF´s support has contributed to establishing research groups in areas of long-term importance.
Thus far there are eight CoEs established globally, and 200+ person-years of research have been conducted with VREF support. These CoEs represent a network of competencies comprised of 100+ researchers working on a portfolio of topics. This is an established, global infrastructure of researchers for future initiatives. The network of CoEs represents both deep knowledge as well as a multitude of nuances in specific topics. VREF intends to continue to strengthen this network.
VREF recently began to further develop the comprehensive research portfolio it supports. Calls have been issued for proposals on specific topics that the Board feels are particularly important for the future of urban transport. The current (2011) call covers urban freight and its interaction with urban passenger transport.
CALL FOR NOMINATION FOR the Håkan Frisinger Award for Excellence in Transportation Research
The VREF invites universities located in Sweden to nominate candidates for The Håkan Frisinger Award (Håkan Frisingers pris till framstående transportforskare) and apply for a VREF Visiting Researcher Grant for the nominated candidate.
Open for nomination until 2021-03-15. Read more... (pdf, 233.8 kB)
MOBILITY GRANT 2021- MAC-MG 2021 (pdf, 443.4 kB)
The VREF invites PhD students and advanced master students from Sub-Saharan African (SSA) universities to apply for a Mobility Grant (MG) to support a visit to another SSA university with up to SEK 25 000.
The VREF invites PhD students and researchers in early stages of their career to apply for a Study Visit Grant to be supported with up to SEK 30 000.
Lee Schipper Memorial Scholarships for Sustainable Transport and Energy Efficiency targets supporting the momentum of Lee Schipper’s contribution to the international policy dialogue in these fields.
This yearly award is aimed at supporting young individual researchers and students in is pursuance.
Call deadline: March 1, 2021 .
Blog! Blog! Blog!
This Meeting of the Minds' blog monthly releases interviews of global transportation researchers from the VREF's Future Urban Transport Program Network.
This CityFix series, produced by the WRI (World Ressources Institute) Ross Center for Sustainable Cities and supported by the VREF, discusses walking and cycling in cities with a special focus on low- and middle-income countries.
About VREF
The Volvo Research and Educational Foundations (VREF) inspires, initiates and supports research and educational activities through the Future Urban Transport Programme - How to deal with the complexity of urban transport (FUT).
Our Vision: Sustainable transport for equitable access in urban areas
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