Steer x Active Travel Academy: Research Talks

Steer x Active Travel Academy: Research Talks

Steer was proud to collaborate with the Active Travel Academy at the University of Westminster to bridge the gap between local government and academic researchers, supporting active travel projects and initiatives globally.

As part of this initiative, Steer sponsored the publication of inclusive summaries for several key pieces of research from the Active Travel Studies journal.

To bring these insights to a wider audience, we hosted Research Talks, a series of engaging online events featuring the authors of three significant and diverse studies on active travel. These sessions empowered active travel practitioners to integrate academic research into their projects and initiatives, driving meaningful change in communities worldwide.

Why revisit the series?

• Gain expert insights – Learn from leading researchers tackling key challenges in active travel.
• Discover practical applications – See how research findings can inform real-world projects.
• Explore global perspectives – Understand trends and strategies relevant to active travel worldwide.
• Deepen your knowledge – Rewatch Q&A discussions and expert analysis at your own pace.
   

It’s a Boy’s Thing: The social practice and regulation of cycling in secondary schools.

An essential event for anyone involved in the strategy, planning, delivery, or evaluation of cycling projects. 

Uncover the cultural and social forces shaping cycling as a gendered activity among adolescents. This session explores research – grounded in Ireland but with global relevancy – that highlights the barriers preventing teenage girls from cycling and offers insights into how these norms can be challenged.

Research insights:

• In Ireland, teenage boys are nearly 10 times more likely to cycle to school than girls, reflecting a significant gender gap in adolescent cycling.
• Cycling is often viewed as a demonstration of masculine traits, making it more acceptable for boys.
• Societal expectations around femininity can discourage girls from cycling.
• Peer dynamics and cultural norms perpetuate cycling as a "boy-only" activity.

Watch to learn how gender norms are enacted and reproduced in the context of cycling, shaping its practice and participation among adolescents and future adult cyclists, and what can be done to change this.

Meet the speakers

Lisa Martin, Director, Steer 

Lisa has over 25 years of experience with a focus on delivering sustainable mobility through the design and implementation of travel behaviour change strategies and programmes that include education, incentives, and infrastructure interventions. She has advised the local, regional and central governments in the UK, Australia and the US, and private sector clients across a broad spectrum of behaviour change studies. She has a track record in successfully delivering sustained levels of a modal shift away from the car. 

Dr. Robert Egan, Research Fellow, Centre for Transport Research, Trinity College Dublin 

Dr. Robert Egan is an interdisciplinary researcher who explores cycling in low-cycling contexts, with a focus on Ireland. His research is broadly situated within the mobilities paradigm. To date, he has examined the lived experience and practices of cyclists in Dublin; the secondary school cycling gender gap; cycle parking planning; discourses of active travel planning opposition; and e-cargo bikes for business and family mobility.

Jane Hackett, Sustainability Manager, Trinity College Dublin

Jane is an experienced Sustainability Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the environmental, sustainability, and planning sector. She has developed nationwide behaviour change programmes related to sustainable transport, climate action, and infrastructure provision. Her role at Trinity College Dublin focuses on embedding sustainability throughout education, research, operations, and community through stakeholder engagement, training, and collaboration. Jane is passionate about creating resilient communities that tackle climate change while fostering inclusivity and fun.

Gender and the e-bike: Exploring the role of electric bikes in increasing women’s access to cycling and physical activity.

An essential event for anyone involved in the strategy, planning, delivery, or evaluation of e-cycling projects. 

Discover how e-bikes can help close the gender gap in cycling in low-cycling contexts. This session examines how e-bikes both reinforce and challenge traditional gender norms and how they could serve as a tool to boost women’s cycling rates.

Research insights:

In low-cycling countries, women are significantly less likely to cycle. While previous research highlights the need for better cycling infrastructure and gender equality to encourage more women to cycle, this study explores how e-bikes might also play a key role.

Using interviews with e-cyclists, e-bike retailers, and cycling planners and policy-makers, this research uncovers the gendered dimensions of the e-cycling experience, revealing that e-bikes can:

• Help women fulfil care responsibilities and meet traditional expectations of appearance while cycling.
• Increase women’s confidence and assertiveness on the road.
• Offer less fit women more positive and empowering cycling experiences.
• Enhance the availability of high-quality bikes for women and foster more inclusive bike retail environments.
• Improve women’s transport options, and make it easier for them to get enough exercise.

Watch the event recording to explore how e-bikes can transform access to cycling for women, fostering inclusivity and confidence on the road.

Meet the speakers

Dom Smith, UK Active Travel Lead, Steer

A nationally recognised expert in active travel infrastructure planning and delivery, Dom has over 20 years’ experience in local transport across the public and private sectors. He brings over a decade of experience from Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), where he oversaw the delivery of a c£250m infrastructure programme of over 120km of active travel infrastructure, including more than 20km of protected cycle lanes on major road corridors. Dom’s influence extends internationally, having collaborated with active travel leaders from Copenhagen and Amsterdam among others, further showcasing his commitment to world-class infrastructure design. At Steer, Dom leads UK-wide active travel initiatives, supporting our clients realise their ambitions for active travel through visionary network planning and the development and delivery of transformative design solutions. 

Dr Kirsty Wild, Senior Research Fellow, Population Health, University of Auckland 

Kirsty is an environmental sociologist who works in public health.  She has a particular interest in healthy environments and has worked with community organisations, universities, governments and the World Health Organization (WHO) on a range of projects related to transport, healthy neighbourhoods, sustainable food systems, pandemic resilience, and climate change.  

Breaking down barriers: How do we encourage more women to cycle?

This webinar, hosted by Steer and the Active Travel Academy in honour of International Women’s Day 2025 (#AccelerateAction), delves into the key barriers preventing more women from cycling throughout different stages of life and explores actionable solutions to reverse this trend. 

From an early age, gender disparities in cycling emerge. Teenage girls are ten times less likely to cycle to school than boys, influenced by societal expectations around femininity, peer dynamics, and cultural norms that often frame cycling as a “boys-only” activity. As women transition into adulthood, many take on primary caregiving roles—two-thirds of mothers become the main caregiver—yet most cycling infrastructure fails to accommodate parents, especially those using non-standard bikes like cargo bikes. Compounding these challenges, many cycleways feel unsafe to women, particularly those running alongside parks, railways, and canals, where poor visibility and isolation heighten safety concerns.

In this essential webinar, we explored:

• Infrastructure challenges, such as guard rail barriers, limiting access for non-standard bikes.
• The need for better-connected local routes that align with women’s non-linear journeys.
• The importance of soft measures like cycle training to build confidence, especially for less affluent women.
• The impact of harassment and safety concerns, which discourage many women from cycling after dark—highlighted by a TfL assessment revealing nearly a quarter of cycleways feel unsafe.

This event underscores the urgent need for inclusive, gender-responsive planning, involving women directly in the design of cycling networks to ensure safety, accessibility, and a welcoming environment for all.

Meet your speakers

Dom Smith, Active Travel Lead, Steer

A nationally recognised expert in active travel infrastructure planning and delivery, Dom has over 20 years of experience in local transport across the public and private sectors. Dom has over a decade of experience from Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), where he played a pivotal role in the success of the Bee Network and oversaw the delivery of a c.£250m infrastructure programme of over 120km of active travel infrastructure, including more than 20km of protected cycle lanes on major road corridors into Manchester city centre. At Steer, Dom leads UK-wide active travel initiatives, supporting our clients in realising their ambitions for active travel through visionary network planning and the development and delivery of transformative design solutions. 

Dr Dawn Rahman, Principal Consultant, Integrated Transport Planning

Dawn is currently a Principal Consultant at Integrated Transport Planning but also has experience of working for various organisations such as local authorities and non-profit organisations delivering transport projects and travel behaviour schemes. She also has experience in carrying out research on a broad range of transport and climate change issues, including authoring and co-authoring several publications for UK government agencies and the European Commission (EU). In the last year Dawn has completed a PhD at the University of Westminster titled Mad or Magnificent? Mothers who cycle with their children.

Robert Egan, Research Fellow, Centre for Transport Research, Trinity College Dublin

Dr. Robert Egan is an interdisciplinary researcher who explores cycling in low-cycling contexts, with a focus on Ireland. His research is broadly situated within the mobilities paradigm. To date, he has examined the lived experience and practices of cyclists in Dublin; the secondary school cycling gender gap; cycle parking planning; discourses of active travel planning opposition; and e-cargo bikes for business and family mobility.”

Kate Bartlett, Active Travel Academy

Kate is currently a PhD student in the Active Travel Academy at Westminster University. She is researching into how cycling and rail stages are combined in single trips and the potential to increase this combined mode. Prior to this she completed an MSc at Westminster University in Transport Planning and Management. Kate moved into the Transport field after a long career in banking. She is also an active cycle campaigner with the Women's Network of the London Cycling Campaign which is working to ensure cycling is an inclusive mode of transport that men and women use equally, across London, by 2030.

Clutter and compliance: Improving scooter parking interventions and perceptions

This session provided essential insights for anyone involved in the strategy, planning, delivery, or evaluation of shared e-scooter programmes.

Speakers Alia Verloes (Steer) and Nicholas J. Klein (Cornell University) explored innovative strategies to tackle improper e-scooter parking and improve public perceptions. Drawing from field experiments and public perception research, they shared actionable recommendations for cities working to create tidier, more accessible urban spaces.

Key research insights:

• People consistently overestimate scooter misparking.
• The public perceives scooters as being misparked far more often than cars.
• Many associate tidy parking with compliance, even when it does not meet official regulations.
• Policymakers should prioritise simple, intuitive parking solutions over complex technological fixes.

The session examined how designated parking areas and clear guidance can improve compliance while aligning with public expectations of orderly urban spaces.

Meet your speakers

Alia Verloes, North American New Mobility Market Lead, Steer

Alia is a public policy specialist and urban strategist with a focus on shared mobility. She leads the New Mobility market in North America, exploring the potential and impact of disruptive transportation technologies in cities across the world. Alia’s work covers a wide range of new mobility services including shared micromobility, zero-emission vehicles, automation and on-demand services. Her work also considers implementation of mobility hubs and MaaS services in the context of shared use business models. Alia holistically incorporates DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging) principles in all of her work and provides key insights that can inform strategic direction as well as future project development efforts. At Steer, Alia is part of an internal think-tank on 15-minute cities where she looks at the impacts new mobility solutions to build a more human-centric and environmentally sustainable urban future. 

Nicholas J. Klein, Associate Professor, Department of City and Regional Planning / College of Architecture, Art, and Planning, Cornell University