The objective of the RA Fellowship is to develop the future leaders of our industry.
The aim of the Fellowship Research Task, with its report and presentation, is to give Fellows the opportunity to engage with key stakeholders and to produce outputs to take our policy agenda and industry forward. It is also an opportunity to take on the challenge of developing a pitch with a broad scope and presenting to a group of senior leaders across government and industry, and honing presentation skills.
Earlier in 2024, the RA Board heard presentations from transport agencies around Australia about the key priorities for each state/territory for the year ahead. Some of the areas common to each jurisdiction included decarbonizing the transport economy to assist Australia in reaching its commitment of net zero by 2050.
With this in mind, the 2024 topic aimed to focus on the area of decarbonization while also looking at the concept of resilience – increasing the resilience of our transport network and the concept of reuse, recycle, readapt – as its applied to existing transport infrastructure. As the world becomes a smaller space through technological advancements, RA has a role within the transport industry to bring international solutions to local problems. Fellows were encouraged to look internationally for examples of best practice in the area of decarbonisation with a view of applying these solutions within Australia.
The 2024 research task was “How to maximise the role of existing transport infrastructure in decarbonisation: strategies for smarter utilisation of assets and innovation.”
To support this goal, and as part of the annual program, our Fellows were asked to work in groups on a research project that demonstrates their:
- understanding of key issues and challenges faced by industry,
- ability to work together on a collective response,
- ability to apply presentation skills taught during the mid-year workshop;
- ability to communicate a convincing argument to key stakeholders, and develop feasible implementation solutions for RA.
Group 6 from Victoria was announced as the 2024 winner, receiving an invitation to share their initiative with the RA Network.
Group 6 presented a research report: ‘Decarbonise your Journey’.
Group 6 comprised:
– Alanna Marsh – pitt & sherry
– Angus Gray – BildGroup
– Craig Anderson – Transurban
– Daniel Hill – McConnell Dowell
– Isolde Piet – CPB Contractors
– Renee Egglestone – John Holland
– Will Rillo – Infrastructure Advisory Group
2024 research projects
