Announcement:

ITF Summit:
Research Sessions Spotlight

The International Transport Forum (ITF), together with the European Commission (EC), the European Conference of Transport Research Institutes (ECTRI), the US Transportation Research Board (TRB) and the World Conference on Transport Research Society (WCTRS), is pleased to announce the ITF Spotlight on Research Sessions as part of the official programme of the ITF 2026 Annual Summit held in person in Leipzig, Germany from 6-8 May 2026.

The ITF Summit is the world's largest gathering of transport ministers and the premier global transport policy event. Since 2008, ministers from ITF’s 69 member countries, heads of international organisations, parliamentarians, and leaders in industry and academia have met annually during the Summit to discuss the future of transport and mobility through the prism of a strategic topic of global importance. The 2026 theme, "Funding Resilient Transport", is the second in the 2025-2027 ITF Summit trilogy on transport resilience.

Transport systems are increasingly vulnerable to overlapping crises including natural disasters, pandemics and cyber-attacks, which can cause severe operational disruptions, infrastructure damage, and significant economic losses. Resilience refers to the capacity of transport systems to absorb such shocks, adapt to changing conditions, and recover swiftly while continuing to deliver essential services. There is an urgent need to invest in transport resilience as the foundation for a safe, efficient, and modernized global transportation system. These investments can be made in infrastructure and services of individual modes of transport, but also in increased flexibility and resilience across modes.

The objective of the three Spotlight on Research Sessions for 2026 is to bring together subject matter research experts, senior-level policy practitioners, and decision-makers, to discuss and exchange ideas on the Summit theme. The Research Sessions can inform policy decisions by helping practitioners understand the increasing complexity of mobility systems; by raising awareness of the latest innovations and transformative technologies; and by critically assessing the impacts of current and proposed policies. This is increasingly important considering the pace at which our transport systems are currently evolving.

The focus of the three 2026 sessions will be on:

1.      Physical infrastructure resilience
Refers to how physical transport infrastructure, like roads, bridges, urban and non-urban railways, ports, and airports, can withstand and recover from natural disasters or other disruptions. Examples of research questions include:

• What innovative construction materials and designs could enhance infrastructure resilience to future threats?
• How do aging infrastructure systems impact resilience and what are cost-effective maintenance or retrofitting strategies?
• How can investment in redundancy to improve long-term resilience and cost-efficiency imperatives best be traded-off?
• What analytical tools could incorporate deep uncertainty to improve the robustness of asset investment appraisal?

2.      Digital infrastructure resilience
Refers to how digital infrastructure which underpins the proper functioning of physical infrastructure assets, can maintain operational stability during disruptions. Digital infrastructure includes road, rail, maritime and air traffic management systems, payment systems, telecommunications networks, and energy supply. Examples of research questions include:

• How can interoperability between transport modes and digital systems be strengthened to respond to a range of different threats?
• What should transport authorities do to enhance the redundancy of data networks, communications infrastructure, and payment system?
• What are the challenges and opportunities of emerging technologies for the resilience of digital infrastructure (e.g. connected and automated vehicles, the internet of things, artificial intelligence)?
• How could the transport and energy sectors better collaborate to enhance operational resilience?  

3.      Cyber security resilience
Refers to the threats and mitigations associated with providing cyber security, as well as different approaches to preparing for, managing, and recovering from cyber-attacks. Examples of research questions include:

• How can transport systems integrate cybersecurity protocols without compromising operational efficiency?
• How should data governance frameworks be adapted to ensure data collection, analysis, and reporting is resilient to cyber threats while supporting innovative transport applications, like mobility as a service?
• How should the transport sector prepare for the impact of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and quantum computing on cyber security?
• How can analytical approaches like strategic foresight and scenario planning support policymakers to deal with future uncertainty?

Submission of abstracts for the Spotlight on Research Sessions
To select the researchers who will present their work at the three Spotlight on Research Sessions we invite submissions for extended abstracts of up to 1000 words that focus on one of the following themes:

1.      Physical infrastructure resilience

2.      Digital infrastructure resilience

3.      Cyber security resilience

The submission must be accompanied by a three-minute video recording providing a brief overview of the research and its implications for policy making.

Abstracts and videos must be submitted no later than Friday, 06 March 2026, 11:59 PM ET (GMT-5). Any submissions received after this deadline will not be accepted for consideration.

Guidelines for abstracts and videos
Abstracts can draw on quantitative or qualitative research in the fields of transport, mobility, or any other academic fields linked to transport. Abstracts must include a title, the name(s) of author(s), their organisation affiliations, and their contact details. Please also include details of any project website(s) where additional information is available and identify which one of the three topics listed above your abstract relates to. Given that the overall goal of the Spotlight on Research Sessions is to foster research-policy linkages, abstracts must clearly elaborate on their relevance and potential to impact policy, as well as on how the research contributes to the processes of developing and implementing policy.

Videos must explain the relevance of a submission to the Summit theme and concisely summarise how research findings address one of the three topics set out above. In case of submissions with multiple co-authors, the video recording should be prepared by the lead author who will present the research at the Summit. Presentations can be done by using a slide-deck, but this is not mandatory. They must be submitted in an mp4 format.    

Abstracts and videos can be submitted in English or French, the two official languages of the International Transport Forum.

Selection process
For both the abstract and the video submissions, applicants will be evaluated on the following:

• Relevance of the research for policymaking in the chosen submission category;

• Potential of the research outputs to improve policymaking;

• Methodological soundness of the presented work;

• Clarity of argument; and

• Uniqueness and innovativeness of the presented work. 

Based on these criteria, submissions will first be reviewed by a team of ITF and independent experts. The final selection of speakers will then be conducted by a jury composed of members of the five partner organising institutions. Successful applicants will be informed of the outcome of the selection process by mid-March 2026.

Selected authors will be invited to present their research in person at the ITF Summit, 6-8 May 2026. As Summit speakers, the selected authors will have their Summit registration fees covered by the ITF; however, these authors will be responsible for their own travel, hotel, and any other related expenses. We recommend authors who require a visa to travel to Germany start processing it as soon as possible.    

For inquires, please contact: Matthew Ireland (Matthew.Ireland@itf-oecd.org)