This is not your traditional academic article: no big words, no theory no-one understands and no in-text references.
This piece is perceptive, personal and poignant.
It is only 2.5 pages and is an embodied exploration of what is seen, said, felt, performed and experienced during international travel.
It centres on my return trip home (to Brisbane, AUS) after doing bike PhD Fieldwork in Sierra Leone.
In it, I share some moments of ‘Encountering the Return’ trip that any traveller would instantly recognise.
Anyone who has ever been overseas or in an airport will relate to this article.
I wanted to capture how time, space, place, bodies, objects, movement and feelings are all co-implicated in re(co)creating the fleeting moments that make up our lives.
Recently, Nelson Aigbe, (the Founder/Director of Grace Foundation, Gambia) got in contact with me. He had seen news of my research in Sierra Leone and he reached out to share the important work he is doing feeding and educating street kids. I wanted to do a post for Grace Foundation to support their incredible work, spread the work and give readers the opportunity to donate and help Grace Foundation continue their work. In a time when many of us are house-bound and the world seems to have shrunk, it is even more important to keep our eyes and hearts open to needs of others. This post is written by Nelson and outlines what Grace Foundation is and how they help local street kids. Please give generously. Thanks, NG.
Lunchtime
Grace Foundation Gambia
Grace Foundation is a registered nonprofit organization in the Gambia that provides education and food for 400 street kids.. Many Gambian children turn up at schools daily on hungry stomach and return home hungry.
Their families are living in extreme poverty and do not have enough income to provide the barest minimum of food.
As a result of the poverty faced daily by these children, many are withdrawn from schools and are forced to engage in street trading in order to get food for their families at home, thus exposing these mainly children girl to sex abuse, child trafficking and child labour.
Grace Foundation provides free school meals and education to 400 kids, most of them are girl s as a way to help stop sex abuse, encourage school attendance and stop hunger at schools.
A message from the Founder/Director
I write to you on behalf of Grace Foundation Gambia.
Grace Foundation provides free school meals and education to mainly girl street children sent to trade in the streets in order to help feed at home thus exposing these mainly girl street children to sex abuse, child trafficking and child labour.
Since the closure of schools these children can no longer assess the free school meals programme we provide daily, and most of these children are back in the streets, trading and hawking in order to be fed at home.
This street trading has once again exposed these mainly girl children to sex abuse, child trafficking and labour.
I pray for your attention in helping me with the continuation of the feeding and probably education of these very vulnerable poor Children.
My organization is a small one that depends on the magnanimous donations of good people like you to help keep these children safe from the streets.
Please feel free to ask any questions that may be useful to you.
Kind regards,
Nelson Aigbe – Founder/Director, Grace Foundation, The Gambia
Lunch at Grace Foundation
You can make a difference
Your contributions can help educate a child because your $15 will buy stationery for a child $25 will provide school bag for a child
$50 will provide Uniforms $100 will provide lunch for 2000 pupils
$150 will provide seedlings for school gardens $700 will buy 2000 acres of land
To support kindly send donations to: Trust Bank Limited (Gambia) Account Name: Grace Foundation (GF) Account Number: 110-243272-01 Swift Code: TBLTGMGM
For further inquiries please contact: gracefoundation.gm@gmail.com
The Lab is an activist organisation that has devised inventive forms of creative civil disobedience to assert an alternative to the nexus of capitalism, consumption and environmental destruction.
They try “to open spaces where the imaginative poetic spirit of art meets the courage and rebelliousness inherent to activism”.
In 2009, the Lab developed the Bike Bloc as a form of direct action for the UN Climate Negotiations in Copenhagen (the unsuccessful forerunner to the recent Paris Climate Talks).
Hundreds of people worked over several weeks to design and weld activist bicycles and practise “street action cycle choreography”.
Double Double Trouble – a Dissent Bicycle-Object
Some of these were paired tall-bikes that gave riders a great height advantage (confiscated by police before the protest), while others were equipped with megaphones that played music, sirens and abstract sounds in synchronicity.
One such bike recently featured in Disobedient Objects, an exhibition developed by the Victoria & Albert Museum in London which toured to the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney.
As the video documentation shows, the Lab embraced the model of an insect swarm in order to create a dispersed field of sound and activity that drew police attention in different directions.
What makes this action so compelling artistically is the intersection of DIY cycle culture and the lessons of radical theatre and performance.
The bicycle was assessed for what kind of form it might contribute to coordinated protest, notably creating a fluid field of assembling and disassembling bodies and sound.
Laura Fisher is a post-doctoral research fellow at Sydney College of the Arts, The University of Sydney. In October 2015 she co-curated Bespoke City with Sabrina Sokalik at UNSW Art & Design, a one night exhibition featuring over 20 practitioners celebrating the bicycle through interactive installations, sculpture, video, design innovation, fashion and craft. This event was part of Veloscape, an ongoing art–research project exploring the emotional and sensory dimensions of cycling in Sydney.
You might have seen this story in the news recently. If not, you need to know about it! It is an inspirational story of fifteen-year-old Jyoti Kumari who rode a second-hand bicycle 1, 200kms with her disabled father as pillion to get home amidst India’s coronavirus lockdown. Amazing! Enjoy. NG.
Image: Inquirer.net YouTube.
Mohan (father) is an e-rickshaw driver who sustain a fracture knee during a road accident. They had travelled to seek medical attention. Their family lives in Gurugram (a suburb of the Indian capital Delhi) and his young daughter Jyoti went with him to look after him while he recovered when the lockdown started on 25 March.
So Jyoti decided to buy a bicycle and like thousands of other Indian migrant workers have done since March, make her way home.
Using the money they had left (Rs2000) she bought a second-hand hot pink bike with a rack on the back for her injured father to ride pillion. They left home only with a bottle of water and she rode him non-stop from Sikandarpur in Haryana to Darbhanga in Bihar with only brief stops at Palwal, Agra and Mathura.
The trip was 1200km. Keep in mind the blistering heat and that they had no money for food along the way and relied on the kindness of strangers.
Jyoti said she was exhausted from the trip and that “It was a difficult journey”. She also said “The weather was too hot, but we had no choice. I had only one aim in my mind, and that was to reach home. It was a decision taken in desperation”.
Her efforts have made global headlines and won hearts on social media.
Their trip highlights the plight of migrant workers caught in the lockdown. Activists say her story highlights desperate measures migrants are taking under the Covid-19 lockdown in India
The Indian Express reports Mohan (father) says they survived with the help of “several well-wishers” on the road. “We were lucky. Jyoti pedalled for eight days, making brief stops at Palwal, Agra and Mathura. At some places, we would get a proper meal, sometimes just biscuits, but we managed”.
Jyoti’s bike ride story viral internationally (just look it up on the internet or on a news service) and their journey internationally highlighted ongoing issues such as the precarious situation of migrant workers, inequity and access to healthcare and how the most disadvantaged are being impacted by COVID-19.
Jyoti gained popularity due to her kindness and effort- and has had offers of financial help.
Jyoti’s riding also caught the attention of the Indian cycling Federation.
Impressed by her fortitude and stamina, Cycling Federation of India Chairman Onkar Singh said he was “extremely impressed” and that “it’s no mean feat for a 15-year-old to pedal with her father for eight days at a stretch over more than 1,200 km. It shows her endurance levels”.
She has been invited to try out for the national cycling team having proven her stamina.
“Once she is out of quarantine, we will bring her to Delhi to conduct trials, where we will ascertain if she can be groomed into a serious cyclist. And then, it’s up to her if she wants to pursue a career in cycling. We can even transfer her to Patna or any other centre that’s closer to her village. Ultimately, she has to make the choice” Singh said.
What an incredible story!
Image: Inquirer.net YouTube.
Content for this post was sourced from news sources: The Indian Express, the ABC and Inquirer.net (YouTube) which the images/stills are from.
I hope you had a great time out and about on two wheels!
To see photos and stories from how others spent World Bicycle Day 2020 – check out #WorldBicycleDay and #JustRide
People celebrate World Bicycle Day in many ways. Some people do it on bikes, others do it for bikes. It was a delight to see the myriad ways people honoured the humble bike – riding with friends, making art, sharing music, having critical conversations, holding events and all kinds of advocating for more positive bike change.
To acknowledge the uniqueness, longevity and versatility of the bicycle, which has been in use for two centuries, and that it is a simple, affordable, reliable, clean and environmentally fit sustainable means of transportation, fostering environmental stewardship and health
In large part, this is in response to the fact that, internationally, the mobility needs of people who walk and cycle – often the majority of citizens in a city – continue to be overlooked. The UN Share the Road Programme Annual Report 2018, shows that the benefits of investing in pedestrians and cyclists can save lives, help protect the environment and support poverty reduction.
Walking and cycling continues to be a critical part of the mobility solution for helping cities de-couple population growth from increased emissions, and to improve air quality and road safety.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), safe infrastructure for walking and cycling is also a pathway for achieving greater health equity.
For the poorest urban sector, who often cannot afford private vehicles, walking and cycling can provide a form of transport while reducing the risk of heart disease, stroke, certain cancers, diabetes, and even death.
That means bikes are not only healthy, they are also equitable and cost-effective. There are many reasons to love bikes, for example…
Bikes are a simple, reliable, clean and environmentally sustainable means of transportation
Bikes can serve as a tool for development and as a means not just of transportation but also of access to education, health care and sport
The synergy between the bicycle and the user fosters creativity and social engagement and gives the user an immediate awareness of the local environment
The bicycle is a symbol of sustainable transportation and conveys a positive message to foster sustainable consumption and production, and has a positive impact on climate
Cyclists in Tel Aviv, Israel. Photo by Yoav Azi
Internationally, the aim of World Bicycle Day is to:
Encourage specific bicycle development strategies at the international, regional, national and subnational level via policies and programmes
Improve road safety, sustainable mobility, and transport infrastructure planning and design
Improve cycling mobility for broader health outcomes (ie preventing injuries and non-communicable diseases)
Progress use of the bicycle as a means of fostering sustainable development
Strengthening bike and physical education, social inclusion and a culture of peace
Adopt best practices and means to promote the bicycle among all members of society
Regardless of the reason you ride bikes – you are in very good company!
Keep riding, be healthy and have a awesome World Bicycle Day today!
Happy World Bicycle Day 2020 Image: Boldsky
Parts of this content is taken/edited from the UN World Bicycle Day official website.
On U.S. roads there are 6,000 pieces of litter per mile, on average.
Seth Orme and Abby Taylor set out on their bikes for an epic five-month, 4,700 mile trip across the US – during which they cleaned up 2,130 pounds of trash.
Their journey has been documented in the REI film Leave it Better.
(Below is the trailer. Link to the full 20-minute film for free at end of this post).
Background
One of the main seven tenets of Leave No Trace outdoor ethics is to leave it as you found it. Generally, this is a common-sense approach to preserve the natural or historical beauty of private or public land; it should look untouched when you leave it.
But why not leave it better? In 2015 Seth Orme started a project he calls, Packing It Out, a continuous mission to leave the places he and his companions visit not just as they found them, but better.
For the first-ever Packing It Out trip in 2015, Seth thru–hiked the Appalachian Trail (AT) alongside his friends Joe Dehnert and Paul Twedt. Over 2,200 miles, they packed out 1,100 pounds of trash that was found along the trail.
The following year, Seth and Paul continued the project by hiking a grand total of 2,650 miles from the border of Mexico to Canada along the Pacific Crest Trail. On this trip they cleaned up 720 pounds of trash en route.
This year, Seth traded his hiking boots for a bike and recruited his friend Abby Taylor. On April 26, 2017, Seth and Abby set out on a cross-country bike tour to pick up trash along the way.
Epic US bike trip to pick up trash.
Their route took them from Georgia to Washington State, including a circuit of stops at National Forests, scenic areas, campgrounds, etc., hosting trash cleanups and conservation-theme clinics as they rode.
For 5 months, their goal was to explore the country, meet people, spread the word on ‘Packing It Out,’ and continue their message of environmental stewardship.
At each destination, whether alone or with a group, Orme and Taylor cleaned up trash, totaling more than 2,100 pounds over the course of the trip.
What a fantastic trip and a timely challenge to all riders (and people).
I know I have been stopping more often to pick up rubbish on my bike rides. I hope people, both ON and OFF continue picking rubbish and progressing conversations about sustainability, plastic pollution and conversation.
This blog prides itself on bringing news, ideas and projects from all over the world. Previously we have posted a range of South American stories including several from Peru, Brazil and Colombia. Surprisingly, this post is about South America, but comes via a longer report from the Hindustan Times no less! At a time when we are feeling very insular and localised, it is a good reminder that others internationally are experiencing similar conditions, but perhaps meeting it differently. Pedal on, South America! Enjoy! NG.
A woman rides a bicycle next to Barra da Tijuca beach, amid the coronavirus disease outbreak in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Image: REUTERS via Hindustan Times.
Capital cities in South America such as Bogota, Lima, Quito, Santiago and Buenos Aires have expanded bike lanes, closing off miles of roads to cars, in an effort to ease crowding on public transport to maintain safe distancing.
From Bogota to Buenos Aires, rising numbers of residents in some of South America’s major capitals are getting on their bikes as the coronavirus pandemic drives city officials to expand bike lanes and promote cycling as a safe way to travel.
Capital cities such as Bogota, Lima, Quito, Santiago and Buenos Aires have expanded bike lanes, closing off miles of roads to cars, in an effort to ease crowding on public transport to curb the spread of Covid-19 and maintain safe distancing.
South America is now battling the global pandemic with many cities still under strict or partial lockdown, and Brazil ranked second globally in total cases of the virus, behind the United States.
People go for a walk and ride bikes as the country has managed to get the coronavirus disease under control, in Montevideo, Uruguay. Image: REUTERS via Hindustan Times.
“COVID has been a fundamental factor in achieving what nothing else could have – expanding bike lanes and network length by orders of magnitude instead of slowly and timidly as before,” said Carlos Pardo, senior manager at the Washington- based New Urban Mobility Alliance, a group of cities, non-profits, companies and operators of mobility services.
“COVID made governments aware that it wasn’t a big risk to implement a system of bike lanes,” Pardo told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
‘In the drawers’
Plans to expand bike networks in cities, such as Lima, have been in place for decades but officials hadn’t pushed cycling as a sustainable means of transport until the pandemic hit.
“Many cities had the stuff in the drawers. The plans are ready .. the bike lanes have been identified for years but hadn’t been built,” Pardo said.
In Lima, where about 7 in every 10 people use public transport, promoting alternatives to ease overcrowding on buses and the subway is a priority as the city tries to stem the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
“In Peru, there’s been a huge change. The minister of transport has made cycling a key policy,” Pardo said.
The government has announced plans to create 300 kilometres (185 miles) of temporary bike lanes in the coming months across Lima.
“I suspect that many of the temporary bike lanes are going to become permanent. There is momentum,” Pardo said.
Bogota already had a 550-kilometre (340-mile) network of bicycle lanes criss-crossing the capital before the coronavirus outbreak.
Since Bogota’s lockdown started in late March, 80 kilometres of temporary bike lanes have been added, which are now set to become permanent.
Under the lockdown, about 300,000 trips a day are being made by bicycle, mostly by essential workers, and nearly 70% of people riding bikes today used other forms of transport before the pandemic started, according to Bogota’s secretary of mobility.
A woman rides a bicycle next to Leblon beach, amid the coronavirus disease outbreak in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Image: REUTERS via Hindustan Times.
This story has been published from a wire agency feed with modifications to the original text.
Hello, bike nuts! Thanks for dropping in. As you have noticed, it has been incredibly hectic since my return from Sierra Leone. Not only has it been a profound shift returning from my PhD fieldwork and all the emotions, work, people and activity that entailed, but COVID-19 has taken complete hold of the world to which I returned. Just like everyone else, for the last month, all my time and energy has been consumed with transferring to remote work. For me, that means all managing and adapting all my teaching, learning and classes to virtual spaces – as well as supporting my international and domestic students (116 in all) do the same. The COVID-shift, as I have come to call this phase, has taken precedence over updating this blog. Rest assured, I will be updating as I get the chance, but it might not be as regular as we are used to – but I will continue uploading content – after all, it seems more critical now more than ever to celebrate life and keep positive (on and off the bike!). NG.
Social Science Research in COVID-19
It’s a crazy time to be a (social) scientist – and an even crazier time for fieldwork.
In addition to my own direct experience of recently travelling and researching overseas, I have returned to a world that has significantly changed since I left.
COVID-19 was a threat as I left for my fieldwork in Africa – and it was a reality when I returned.
Everyone has had to make sacrifices, changes and adjustments for family, work and research.
These adjustments take weeks if not months and there is no avoiding it – but as Victor Frankl reminds us, we do have control over how we chose to face challenges.
I have been heartened to see some academic proactively moving to meet the challenge of researching during COVID-19.
For those researchers who need a little lift and motivation – this post is for you.
Here are 3 ways social scientists are productively responding to COVID-19.
Deborah Lupton This Sociological Life has posted some resources for social researchers working in a COVID society saying ‘I’ve put together a few open-access resources concerning what an initial agenda for COVID-related social research could be and research methods for conducting fieldwork in the COVID world’. Her post includes the links below:
This is an open-source global spreadsheet that collates COVID-19 research projects. This impressive repository includes large and small projects from some of the leading universities in the world and showcases the range and significance of COVID-19 impact. All hail GitHub! The organisers state: ‘Social scientists have an important role during a pandemic. We can do this much better through cooperation. This international list tracks new research about COVID 19, including published findings, pre-prints, projects underway, and projects at least at proposal stage.’ What a gift.
COVID-19 and my PhD research
Once my transition to full remote working and teaching has ‘settled down’ (whatever the hell that means?!), I’ll be making space to sit down and reflect.
I’ll be taking stock and considering how and where I’ll incorporate this unique encounter into my academic work, my dissertation and beyond.
Rohingya refugee childrens waiting for food at Hakimpara refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar. With children making up around 60 percent of the Rohingya that have fled into Bangladesh, many below 18 years old arrived into the makeshift tents highly traumatized after seeing family members killed and homes set on fire. Image: @ugurgallen. Photo: K.M. Asad @kmasad
Regular readers of this blog know that my PhD research explores how bicycles feature in rural African girls’ access to education. This means mobility, education, in/equity, gender justice and children’s rights are central to much of the work I do. They are also reoccurring themes for this blog. I regularly post articles that showcase how bicycles create more positive social, environmental and educational change for all – and in many cases for children specifically.
A few previous
BCC posts that feature bikes and kids are:
This year, I wanted to acknowledge this date in a different way.
Instead of sharing a project where children benefit from bikes, I wanted to highlight the juxtapositions of cultural experiences of children around the world.
In this photograph taken on April 28, 2018, Afghan children work at a coal yard on the outskirts of Jalalabad. Image: @ugurgallen. Photo: @noorulah_shirzada
Expand your cultural competency
This week in my Griffith Uni 1205MED Health Challenges for the 21st Century class, we discussed cultural competency and cultural safety. I challenged my students to set themselves a cultural competency experiment/activity for homework – something that they needed to do that would push them outside their own cultural box.
It is too easy for us to think that our experience of life is how it is everywhere.
In Western countries, we are very privileged and sheltered. The experiences of being a child in Australia, the US, Europe, Scandinavia or the UK is vastly different than those in less advantaged countries.
To more broadly consider how culture and environment impact children’s lives differently, look no further than artist Uğur Gallenkuş (@ugrgallen) – his work does this uncompromisingly.
In October 2018, the United Nations warned that 13 million people face starvation in what could be “the worst famine in the world in 100 years. In November 2018, according to the New York Times report, 1.8 million children in Yemen are extremely subject to malnutrition. Image: @ugurgallen.
Global Childhood Juxtapositions: The work of Uğur Gallenkuş.
To honour 2019 World Children’s Day, I’m sharing some of Turkish artist Uğur Gallenkuş work. Uğur is a digital artist who collages images to highlight binaries, juxtapositions and contrasts in human experience. His work comments on conflicts, political issues and social disparities. Some pieces can be quite confronting, others heartfelt, but all have a clear message and are thought-providing.
Uğur’s work forces us to rethink our privilege and remind us that we need to think, feel and act beyond our own immediate cultural experience.
And that many children worldwide need a voice, recognition and help.
A man holds a wounded Syrian baby at a makeshift clinic in the rebel-held town of Douma, on the eastern outskirts of Damascus, on September 26, 2017 following reported air strikes by Syrian government forces. Air strikes killed at least four civilians in a truce zone outside the Syrian capital, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said. Image: @ugurgallen. Photo: Abdullah Hammam @abdullah_hm88 @afpphoto
Nine year old Alladin collects used ammunition to sell as metal in Aleppo, Syria. Image: @ugurgallen. Photo: @niclashammarstrom
Volunteers help a refugee man and baby as refugees hoping to cross into Europe, arrive on the shore of Greece‘s Lesbos Island after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey on November, 2015. Image: @ugurgallen. Photo: Özge Elif Kızıl @oekizil @anadoluajansi
Yemeni children attend class on the first day of the new academic year in the country’s third-city of Taez on September 3, 2019, at a school that was damaged last year in an air strike during fighting between the Saudi-backed government forces and the Huthi rebels. Image: @ugurgallen. Photo: Ahmad Al-Basha @afpphoto
A child fighter with poses with a gun at a military training facility during the Liberian Civil War. Image: @ugurgallen. Photo: Patrick Robert @gettyimages
Children of displaced Syrian refugee family use paving stones as pillows at Erbil, Iraq in 2013. Image: @ugurgallen. Photo: Emrah Yorulmaz @emrahyorulmaz04 @anadoluajansi
Yelena Shevel, 10, who dreams of becoming a vet, learns to put on a gas mask during training at LIDER, a summer camp in the outskirts of Kiev, Ukraine. She believes that “it is important to defend our homeland because if we don’t do it, then Russia will capture Ukraine and we will become Russia,”. Hundreds of children play war games while they are getting trained in military disciplines and in firing tactics. The armed conflict between Ukraine and Russian-backed separatists is entering its fifth year; the conflict is still festering. Time for playing with toys is gone. Education, living in dreams. Schools are destroyed by indiscriminate shelling or deliberately turned into military posts. Children and teachers stay at home, afraid to step on a landmine or be caught in the crossfire of warring parties. The house of learning, envisioned as a safe haven, becomes a target. Image: @ugurgallen. Photo: Diego Ibarra Sanchez @diego.ibarra.sanchez @natgeo
Included among the delegates attending are Australian and international
keynote speakers, advocacy groups, researchers, practitioners, businesses and
policymakers.
This conference includes research presentations, workshops, technical tours, poster presentations, networking opportunities and other social events.
The conference goes for 3 days and is jam-packed full of sessions.
The program also boasts a host of international guests, with delegates coming in from the Netherlands, New Zealand, Denmark, Japan, Norway, USA, Sweden, Canada and as the host country – Australia has a very strong representation from pretty much every University nationwide.
Presentation sessions are discussing ideas such as: obstacle avoidance manoeuvres, e-scooters/e-bikes, infrastructure challenges, rider/pedestrian conflicts, traffic control, crash data, bikeshare data and social media interfaces, and lane marking/intersection analysis, bicycle delivery modalities, and studies using agent-based modelling – and more!
I ‘m not attending this conference because I prefer to focus on the positive aspects of bicycle riding – which of course safety is part of…I just don’t want to be constantly working with ‘negatives’ such as crash figures, injuries and traffic hot zones and contestations – also crunching quantitative data is not my strongest research skill. But I appreciate that this is super interesting to many cycling researchers and policymakers. Such conversations and information sharing is critical to progressing more innovative solutions to cycling dilemmas and to increase the take up of biking universally.
Meet the posters authors event. Tuesday 19th Nov. ICSC 2019.
Daily synopsis
Monday is the first conference day. The day is split into four sessions under two main streams: Workshops and Technical Tours. The two workshops offered are: Low-cost infrastructure for low cycling countries and Using bikes for all kinds of deliveries. Concurrently there are 5 technical tours: Inner City (x 2), Riverside, Bicentennial Bikeway and Connecting the infrastructure. The evening is the Welcome Reception and Stakeholder Dinner.
Tuesday before morning tea is official registrations, Introduction and Opening Keynote Trends and innovation research in cycling safety by Prof Christopher Cheery (Uni of Tennessee, USA).
Then there
are 2 rooms running concurrent 20 min presentation sessions all the way up to afternoon
tea except for a Conference Plenary and another Keynote Cycling Infrastructure:
if you build it, will come? (and will they be safe?) by Dr Glen Koorey (ViaStrada,
NZ) after lunch.
Tuesday
afternoon session has two 1-hour Rapid Oral Presentation sessions followed by
Meet the Poster Author’s Function and then the official Conference Dinner.
Wednesday morning opens with a Conference Panel session entitled Arising trends & challenges: what, why & how. Then a full day of 1-hour and 20 min concurrent presentation sessions all the way up to 4.30pm… Phew – what a long day!
At 4.30 it is ICSC Awards and official conference close. The final official event is the Peoples’ Night from 5pm.
Then it’s party time!
Image: ICSC 2019
People’s Night
For the first time, the ICSC community is inviting the general public to attend the Cycling Conference free People’s Night.
I love the idea of a conference having a ‘People’s Night.’ Every conference should have one!
This is a unique opportunity to meet, discuss and network with conference delegates, check out the digital research poster, hear about some of the latest innovations, technology, infrastructure, developments, trends and findings in cycling safety research.
This event is offered in the spirit of the conference guiding principle to share cycling safety research with ALL stakeholders – which I think is a great move. Not everyone is interested or can afford the money or time to attend the whole conference, but to open up your doors and invite the local public an opportunity to interact with delegates is a very smart move – good for the conference, good for the locals!
I’ll be heading in
for this event, so if you are in Brisbane on Wednesday night, I might see you
there! If you would like to attend you can RSVP via the
ICSC FB page HERE. Details below.
Date: Wednesday 20
November Time: 5pm-6.30pm Venue: The Cube, P Block, QUT Gardens Point Campus, Brisbane Cost: Free Inclusions: Complimentary food and non-alcoholic beverages
If you are riding your bike in and around Brisbane this
week, check out the ICSC. Always good to get the latest intel of what is
happening in the cycling world!
Hopefully, the safer it is to ride a bike, the more people will
ride.
If that is the case, get ya conference on ICSC 2019!!
