Keynote speakers
Professor Juan Carlos Muñoz
Minister of Transport and Telecommunications of Chile, Professor at the Department of Transport Engineering and Logistics of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
Juan Carlos Muñoz is the Minister of Transport and Telecommunications of Chile. Before becoming Minister, Mr. Muñoz was a Professor at the Department of Transport Engineering and Logistics of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC) where he led the Institute for Sustainable Development, the Center for Sustainable Urban Development (CEDEUS) and the Bus Rapid Transit Centre of Excellence.
Minister Muñoz is a Civil Engineer with a Minor in Transportation from PUC, where he also got a Masters of Science in Industrial Engineering. In 2002 he got a Ph.D. from Civil Engineering and a MSc in IEOR from UC Berkeley.
His main passion is public transport and its role in shaping sustainable cities. Before becoming a Minister he not only did research and taught on this subject, but also had been involved as an adviser and board member of different public transport related institutions. In 2018 he was appointed co-Convenor of the international committee of CASPT.
Minister Muñoz is a frequent public transport user, which he claims is key for imagining new ways of improving public transport and enhancing its use.
Professor Graham Currie FTSE
Professor of Public Transport, Director Public Transport Research Group, Monash University Australia
Prof. Currie is a transport research leader/ policy advisor and Directs the Public Transport Research Group (PTRG) at Monash University Australia. In 2015 PTRG was identified as one of the top 3 research groups in the world in this area by an independent European review. Graham has published more research papers in leading peer journals in this field than any other researcher. For the last 7 years he has chaired the Light Rail Transit Committee at US Transportation Research Board. He is also a member of the Singapore LTA Research Advisory Board and the Swedish Centre for Research on Public Transport international advisory board. He has won numerous research prizes including best research paper; 14th World Conference on Transport Research in Shanghai, he has won the William W Millar prize for best research paper in public transit at the US TRB conference twice, the only person ever to do so. In 2020 he was presented with the Transport Medal for outstanding contributions to transport by Engineers Australia.
Since 2020 Prof Currie has led a major international research program exploring the impacts of COVID-19 on travel in cities. Outputs of this research have been published in leading journals with free open access and can be accessed using this link.
Professor Nicole Adler
Dean of Hebrew University Business School and a professor of Operations Research and Operations Management
Nicole Adler is the Dean of Hebrew University Business School and a professor of Operations Research and Operations Management. Prof. Adler’s main fields of research include applied game theory and productivity estimation, mostly applied to transportation markets. Her work has been published in leading academic journals in the field, including Management Science, the European Journal of Operational Research and many transportation oriented journals. As a result of work with several physicists, Prof. Adler’s most recent research is in the field of disruptive technologies and their likely impact on congestible infrastructure including road networks and public transport services. Using big data, it has proven possible to improve our understanding of travel behavior. Along these lines, Prof. Adler’s research is now moving in the direction of understanding how automated vehicles could help to achieve three generally accepted targets: zero fatalities, zero emissions and zero congestion. Using game theoretic principles, the idea is to figure out how to ensure that regulators encourage the adoption of disruptive technologies and optimize overall social welfare. Prof. Adler has also advised regulators around the globe on issues including the value of transport infrastructure for the OECD International Transport Forum, the development of competition between airlines for the Israeli Civil Aviation Authority and Israeli Competition Authority, competition between high speed rail companies and airlines for the European Union and Japanese Shinkansen Company, cost efficiency and technology development in the air traffic control management markets for SESAR and the European Commission and improving the efficiency of airport management systems for the Norwegian Department of Transport.