News

The 26th JCT Symposium was held on 15-16 September at Nottingham Trent University and was the first national event of its size to be held since the Coronavirus pandemic hit. The IHE was pleased to be associated with the event. The Symposium was preceded on 14 September by the MOVA User Group meeting which was chaired by IHE Past President Tony Sharp with more than 100 attendees present.

The Symposium was a resounding success, especially given the challenging circumstance that JCT director (and past IHE president) John Nightingale and team faced in the weeks leading up to the event and was attended by over 250 delegates and supported by 27 exhibitors. The whole event had a real buzz about it with everyone agreeing that the organisation was excellent while the excitement in the atmosphere from being able to get back to an ‘in-person’ event was palpable across all three days.

The IHE was pleased and proud to have its usual stand at the exhibition that formed part of the event. It was busy throughout with enquiries relating to membership and professional registration. As well as contributing through the input from IHE members (Tony Sharp, Neil Levett and Alistair Gollop, the latter two also chaired a session) the IHE also launched the Passive Safety Electrical Guide.

The IHE was also pleased to sponsor a number of awards presented during the final session for the Symposium and judged by IHE members Tony Sharp, Gafoor Din and Michelle Fillingham.
Head Judge Tony Sharp commented: ‘This was a particularly difficult task as the standard of the papers and presentations at this year’s event was as ever extremely high.’

The award winners were:

• Best Paper
Three years of developing AI for traffic signals- how far have we come, and what next? Raquel Velasco (Vivacity) & David Watts (TfGM)

• Best Presentation
Creating a new approach to adaptive traffic control Dr Andy Hamilton (Yunex Traffic)

• Most Thought-Provoking paper
UTMC is dead! Long live UTMC! Simon Notley (Dynniq)

• Most Innovative Presentation
Real Time Transport Modelling at the City of York Michael Oliver (PTV) and James Guilliatt (City of York Council)

• Paper Most Likely to Promote Best Value
TfL Bus Priority Update – extracting more and more value out of our bus priority system. Michael Bloomfield & Chris Cockbill, (TfL)

• Most Promising New Product /Innovation
The Role of ITS in Improving Quality of Life through a Flood Warning System in the Yorkshire Dales National Park Andrew Walker (SWARCO)

Many congratulations to all of the winners and particularly to John Nightingale and the team at JCT for organising a great event.

(Pictured left to right: Tony Sharp, Neil Levett, Alistair Gollop)