Earlier this year, I posted about two ‘local’ Australian cycling conferences that were held in the first half of the year – Bicycle Network’s Bike Futures (February) and the Australian Walking and Cycling Conference (July).
Now we are in the second half of the year, it seems the next round of cycling conferences are all big ‘international’ events being held overseas.
The most recent of these events was the 2017 International Cycling Conference, which was held this week in Mannheim, Germany.
What happened at the International Cycling Conference 2017?
This is an annual 3-day event that brings together international researchers, planners, policy makers and practitioners working in cycling theory and practice.
This year, the Conference was focused on 10 central themes:
- Rethinking Infrastructure
- Attitudes, Behaviour and Choice
- Health and Active Mobility
- Designing Future Infrastructure
- Policy and Strategies
- Mobility Cultures and Education
- Economic Benefits of Cycling
- Digital and Data
- Safety
- Bike-Sharing, Electric Bikes and Intermodality
Although international in principle, the conference is predominately attended by European representatives. This is most likely due to their being in close geographic proximity to Germany – nip in, nip out.
Understandably, there were many Dutch speakers on the program, but also it was great to see as presenters coming from further a field like Taiwan, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Uganda and South Africa.
I was delighted to see 3 Australian presenters, Dr Jennifer Bohnam (Uni of Adelaide), Prof. Narelle Haworth (CARRS_Q Queensland) and Dr Marilyn Johnson (Monash Uni.) presenting a session entitled: Cyclist-related content in driver licensing processes.
I’m currently working on my PhD Confirmation paper which is due in 2 weeks. After confirmation, PhD researchers get a travel grant to attend an international event to present.
Seeing the ICC program (see below) is a great motivator for me to keep pushing on with my own cycling research. (Right now I am in the ‘zombie zone’ and really have to knuckle down and just grind, grind, grind).
The range, scope, depth and variety of the sessions this year was pretty impressive. It looked as if there really was something for everyone!
If you went to the ICC, what cycling issue or topic would you present?
Until such a time, it can’t hurt to keep the ICC Program, Speaker List and Brochure handy (below) as a tangible reminder of all the good work being done around the world where bicycles really are creating positive change!
Click here to access:
Here is an overview of the ICC program and details. Click on the pages below to read the expanded image.
