Zdeněk Tomeš is Professor of Economic Policy and Head of Department of Economics at Masaryk University Brno, Czech Republic. His current research interests focus upon railway competition, transformation of railways in the post communistic countries, railway subsidies and economics of high speed rail. He has contributed to the Journal of Transport Geography, Research in Transportation Economics and Transport Policy.

Andrew is Professor of Transport Performance and Economics at the Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds. Andrew leads the Institute’s Rail Research Theme. His research is focused on: 1) rail infrastructure cost modelling work to support track access pricing regimes; (2) studying the impact of international rail reforms, industry structure and regulatory practice on economic efficiency; (3) modelling the economic impact of rail technology innovations and the incentives required to support implementation; and (4) cost and efficiency modelling, with particular focus on rail transport but also covering other transport modes (airports; roads; bus) and utilities (water and energy). He has published important work in these areas and has led or is leading a wide range of research projects, funded by, for example, the British Office of Rail and Road, Ofgem, Ofwat, the European Commission, SNCF Reseau, The International Transport Forum (ITF), UK Research Councils, and the UK Department for Transport.

Andrew is currently leading a strategic partnership with SNCF Reseau that includes benchmarking the performance of its regional units and studying the cost behaviour of assets over their life cycle at a more disaggregate level; covering maintenance and renewal of multiple asset-types; as well as the relationship between costs, incidents and performance. This work forms an input into the regulatory process with respect to track access charges. Andrew’s econometric work has produced new evidence on e.g. the marginal cost of rail infrastructure with respect to traffic; the relative benefits of vertical separation compared to integrated or holding company structures; the costs and benefits of different approaches to introducing competition in passenger rail services; and the relative efficiency performance of transport firms, with a recent focus on the relationship between cost and performance (train delays). Andrew has also led work on economic incentives in railways, including in respect of the role of track access charges, and the question of how to incentivise innovation in rail.

Andrew is academic advisor to water regulator Ofwat and energy regulator Ofgem on econometric benchmarking, having acted for many years as advisor on cost modelling and benchmarking for ORR. Andrew was until the end of 2019 a member of the advisory board of the Italian Transport Regulation Authority, producing benchmarking and cost modelling guidance in written form and through workshops, and is Associate Editor of the Journal of Transport Economics and Policy. Andrew has a visiting research position at the University of Masaryk, Czech Republic. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the International Transportation Economics Association (ITEA).

Professor for Transport Logistics and head of the study program Mobility & Logistics at Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences (HSRW). His current research focus is on freight transportation on several modes, especially rail freight and inland waterways. Furthermore in new business models for rail freight his research activities focus on the distribution of hydrogen by barge and the further usage of existing vessels, transshipment and storage facilities. Additional activities are in the field of industry 4.0 in food distribution chains. Prior to this position he was senior scientist at the Institute of Transport Planning and Engineering at ETH Zurich.
His current teaching activities are in the field of transport modelling as well as in business development for logistics. He represents the HSRW in the EFLE (European Forum for Logistics Education). As an outcome of the CoViD-19 pandemia he develops new models for international cooperation in hybrid teaching in international collaboration. He is developing a cross European study program for healthcare logistics.

Professor of Uncertainty and Adaptivity of Societal Systems. His chair is supported by the Netherlands Study Centre for Technology Trends (STT). Marchau is also Managing Director of the Dutch Research School for Transport, Infrastructure and Logistics (TRAIL), with over 130 PhD students and 60 staff members across six Dutch universities. His research focuses on (approaches for) decision-making under deep uncertainty (DMDU) in, among others, mobility and spatial planning.
He has been involved as a principal researcher/advisor within various (inter)national projects, working together with academic- and societal partners (see e.g. ‘On the Move’ (https://onthemoveproject.nl/) and ‘Triple Access Planning for Uncertainty’ (https://www.tapforuncertainty.eu/) . Marchau holds different positions, including member of the editorial board of different journals (EJTIR, IET-ITS), guest-editor of different scientific journals, and fellow of the KiM Netherlands Institute for Transport Policy Analysis (KiM).

Graduated as building engineering (Eindhoven University of Technology, 1981). Received his Phd (1986) on Decision Support Systems in regional planning. Different professorships since 1994 at Delft University of Technology (Transport & Logistics) and Radboud University Nijmegen (Spatial Planning; Innovative Planning Methods). He was a.o. Vice-dean of Research and Dean of the Nijmegen School of Management (2008-2016). His research focusses on structuring and supporting decision making on transport and urban planning, including a focus on circular economy and environmental impact assessment.
Promotor of 27 Phds (23 defended; 4 ongoing). Fellow of the Dutch Research School on Transport, Infrastructure and Logistics (TRAIL) since 25 years. He has been chairman/member of various societal/policy advisory/scientific review committees. Since 2020 he coordinates the research program “On the Move: transition towards sustainable mobility” (funded by the Dutch National Science Foundation: https://onthemoveproject.nl/).

Anuradha Jain is an independent expert and business advisor. She specializes in introduction of technological innovation in transport, logistics and electricity sectors. Rail industry experience of over 15 years in passenger, infrastructure and (mainly European) freight where she held strategic, operational and project manager positions in international firms (Switzerland, Germany, India).
Her research focus is sustainable modal shift in EU from road to rail freight for reduction of CO2 emissions. She has studied over hundred digital freight transport platforms since 2014. As a PhD researcher at Radboud University (start 2017), she has applied her cross-network industry experience for developing the online exchange maturity framework (OEMF) for organizing multimodal freight transport. Her papers and stakeholder interactions aim at informing regulatory framework and technological innovations for a stepwise transition of the platforms to accelerate rail freight growth. Has co-authored UIC’s global talent management survey report and articles for rail professionals (2015-2017).

Prof. Dr. iur. Regula Dettling-Ottis a lawyer specializing in aviation law and aviation policy. From 2017 to May 2023, she was Chair of the Performance Review Body of the Single European Sky (PRB), an expert committee of the European Commission.

From 2010 to 2016, Regula Dettling-Ott represented the Lufthansa Group as Vice-President EU Affairs at the EU in Brussels. She was responsible for representing the interests of the Lufthansa Group vis-à-vis the EU Commission, supporting legislative proposals in the EU Parliament and the European Council and legal proceedings before the EU Commission.

Before joining the Lufthansa Group, Regula Dettling-Ott was responsible for Industry Relations & Government Affairs at Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) and worked as a lawyer. During the integration of SWISS into the Lufthansa Group, she was responsible for securing traffic rights.

As a part-time lecturer, Regula Dettling-Ott teaches aviation law at the University of Berne and supervises the annual training seminar for practitioners in Lenzburg. She regularly takes part in international aviation conferences as a speaker and has published numerous articles.

Ivana Paniccia (PhD in economics – University of Reading, 1999) held positions within municipal and central administrations, including the Italian Presidency of the Council of Ministers, generally concerning services of general economic interest (SGEI). From 1997 to 2002, she served at the Italian Regulatory Authority for Electricity and Gas as Head of Analysis and Strategies. Later, and until 2010, she worked for the Municipality of Rome as Director in the Agency in charge of quality and efficiency monitoring of local SGEI and of the Department in charge of municipal utilities’ governance. She also held teaching positions in Industrial Economics and Transport and Infrastructure Economics at LUISS University “G. Carli” of Rome.

Iolanda Vitiello (PhD in Transport Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, 2014) previously worked for the Ports and Logistics Unit at RAM – Logistica Infrastrutture e Trasporti S.p.A. and the Department of Business and Quantitative Studies at the University of Naples Parthenope. She took part to many professional project and research activities in transport sector. During the PhD course, she also joined the Transportation Research Group of the University of Southampton (UK), as a visiting PhD student. Afterwards, she attended a sixteen-month post-doctorate course in strategic management of ports and interports, supported by a research grant from the Italian National Research Council.