Fakultät für Architektur und Bauingenieurwesen

7th Annual Meeting of the Cycling Research Board

CRB is coming to Wuppertal!

Oct 25-27, 2023

Join us to discuss the “hill we ride” to find solutions to practical and research challenges

The Cycling Research Board is coming to Germany for the first time for its 7th Annual Meeting from October 25th to 27th, 2023. This year’s meeting is organized by the Chair of Bicycle Traffic at the University of Wuppertal. We invite contributions from diverse disciplinary and cultural backgrounds to better understand the role of cycling in changing mobility systems.

As another first this year, the authors of selected, high-quality submissions will be offered a route to publishing a full-article in Special Issue focusing on CRBAM in the newly established Journal of Cycling and Micromobility Research.

Keep scrolling to learn more about this publishing opportunity and the program for the annual meeting. You can also find all of these details in our Call for Submissions (last updated May 02, 2023).

About the conference

We invite a variety of perspectives, especially from early career researchers. Participants are encouraged to submit work, even early stage work, that reflects a variety of inter- and transdisciplinary topics, including:

  • Creative approaches to promoting cycling
  • Innovative methodologies to study cycling
  • Using cycling to challenge/rethink assumptions about mobility
  • Critical approaches to transport technology and innovation

Addressing Real Challenges with Research Solutions

Although Wuppertal shares a rainy climate with previous host cities in the Netherlands and Denmark, this is the first time that the Annual Meeting will be held in a very hilly city with sparse cycling infrastructure and a correspondingly low modal share of cycling. But there is a will for change! With this environmental and cultural backdrop, this year’s CRB Annual Meeting will reflect on “the hill we ride” to foster cycling-friendly places through research.

Our discussions will focus on the real-world and scientific challenges we face and we will engage in an interactive dialog around the solutions proposed by those contributing to the meeting. Challenges we face may include, for example: a lack of cycling safety; the negative climate and health impacts of car-centric cities; cultural and individual preferences for non-cycling modes; the many potential hindrances to the up-take of cycling created by geographic conditions, infrastructure design, and the built urban form; the lack of data; or shortcomings in fundamental knowledge on attitudes, behavior and bicycle traffic flow. Our goal this year is to offer a platform for discussing, examining and debating new and old solutions to address wicked to practical challenges.

The CRB Annual Meeting strives to promote interdisciplinary networking opportunities for academics, practitioners and policy makers involved in research to strengthen alliances and facilitate the transfer of knowledge to action. It is a unique gathering which uses cycling to bring together a broad range of researchers including social scientists, engineers, data scientists, psychologists, geographers, physicists, and others touching cycling-related topics. We offer a constructive environment in which mutual support in developing applied and fundamental research, skills and knowledge is central.

Essential to the CRB Annual Meeting is the well-structured social and workshop-based program that seeks to both share and generate new ideas for cycling research. To create this unique environment, no one is a passive visitor because everyone who joins the Annual Meeting actively participates to build our conference together! Bending the conventional conference rules, each session dedicated to individual contributions will be unique. With numerous existing opportunities to deliver standard presentations about your research, sessions at the CRB Annual Meeting are designed to provoke interactive dialogue between and among the speakers and audience.  All sessions are organized using a variety of disruptive moderating approaches, such as the 33 Liberating Structures (e.g., 1-2-4-All, troika consulting, etc.) and other non-traditional methods for facilitating active and interactive discussions. Assigned moderators and facilitators will work with accepted contributors to organize interactive sessions and everyone joining as a contributor should come with the intention to discuss, not only “present” their research.
Along with your individual and group contributions, the 2023 programme will include workshops focused on important skills and knowledge for researchers as well as a fishbowl discussion highlighting different perspectives on the challenges and solutions for creating cycling cities. Social events will also be organized, including a welcome reception and conference dinner to keep our conversations going after hours.

Call for Submissions

We invite submissions from researchers at any stage — everything from wild new ideas to empirical results. Early career and PhD research are encouraged to contribute to the Annual Meeting to discuss their work and get inspired.

We welcome two forms of submissions based in the four following topic areas:

  • Culture & Attitude

  • Infrastructure & Design

  • Modeling & Simulation

  • Policy & Decision-Making

Individual Contribution – For individual researchers seeking to discuss their recent findings, new theories or methods or deliberate exemplary case studies they are investigating. Individual contributors will participate in joint-sessions with others researchers exploring similar solutions from different disciplinary perspectives or for a variety of challenges.

Group Contribution – For two or more researchers who want to team up to organize conventional or unconventional sessions. For example, groups may propose a workshop to share a hard- or soft-skills or provide a crash-course on a new method or tool useful in cycling research. A group of researchers may propose a workshop focused on unpacking and receiving input on some element of their joint work. Diverse groups of researchers may also join together to foster a panel or group discussion highlighting divergent and harmonious perspectives on what the “right” solutions are for which of the “biggest” challenges in the real-world or for cycling research.

  • Type: Indicate if this is an individual or group contribution.

  • Title: Provide a title for your contribution (maximum 15 words)

  • Name(s): List the people who contribute to the individual work presented or names of all members of a group.

  • Contact: Name a contact person with mail and phone number who will be contacted during the review process.

  • Challenge: Briefly describe the challenge you aim to address through the research (maximum 1 sentence).

  • Topic area: Pick one or more of the four topic areas listed above that your contribution is centered around.

  • Goal: Tell us about what you hope to take away from participating and contributing to the conference (maximum 2 sentence).

  • Abstract: Submit an extended abstract describing your individual scientific contribution or proposed group contribution (maximum 1000 words).

Proposals submitted by the deadline will be reviewed through a single-blind process by two reviewers. The outcome of the review will be communicated to the contact person designated through the submission.

Author(s) of accepted proposals will be given the chance to refine their abstract before it will be published in the CRBAM23 Book of Abstracts. The final submission may include one figure, table, or another visual graphic.

Special Issue

As an exciting first for the Cycling Research Board Annual Meeting, this year we will offer a platform for contributors to publish peer-reviewed articles in the forthcoming Special Issue for CRBAM23 in the new Journal of Cycling and Micromobility Research. The author(s) of high-quality abstracts will be invited to submit a full-length article to capture the research findings, new methods or tools, or the other solutions they discuss at our Annual Meeting.

More information and deadlines for article submission and publishing to come!

Practical Information

Wuppertal is near to several large cities which regularly host large international trade fairs and booking a room early is strongly recommended. There are no blocks of rooms or CRB conference discounts available, however the organization team suggests the following local hotels:

If you are interested in cycling in Wuppertal, a new bike sharing system is expected to be launched in Wuppertal this year and there are several shops which rent bicycles at a fee. This website will be updated with more information about these local options you may consider using if you would like to experience our city as a cyclist.

Coffee, tea, cold drinks, snacks, and lunch will be provided on all three conference days. Contributors are also invited to a welcome reception with light snacks and drinks as well as a conference dinner on the first two nights of the conference.

Questions?

If you have any questions, please contact the team in Wuppertal at: crbam23@uni-wuppertal.de

Those who are submitting a proposal for a group contribution are especially welcome to contact the organizing team ahead of time to clarify how your planned workshop, panel, or other interactive session may fit into the program.

The CRB Annual Meeting is overseen by our international, interdisciplinary Steering Committee, managed by the Urban Cycling Institute in Amsterdam, NL.

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