KLU Professor Alan McKinnon Receives TRA Visions Special Honorary Award at Transport Research Arena
At the European Union’s Transport Research Arena (TRA) Conference in Budapest last week, Prof. Alan McKinnon received the TRA Visions Special Honorary Award, recognizing lifetime achievements in European transport research and innovation.

TRA 2026 brought together more than 3,000 transport specialists for four days of discussion, networking, and exhibitions. The event provided a platform for researchers, policymakers, and industry representatives to exchange ideas on the future of European transport and mobility.
Receiving the award was a particularly meaningful moment, as this year marks the 50th anniversary of the start of Alan McKinnon’s research on freight transport and logistics as a PhD student at University College London. Over the past five decades, much of this research has had a strong European focus and has involved collaborations with colleagues across the continent.
“It is a great honour to receive this award, particularly as a British researcher in the post-Brexit era! Much of my research on freight transport and logistics has had a strong European focus and involved working with many great colleagues across the continent, including in KLU. I’m delighted to see my lifetime of transport research acknowledged in this way”, summarized Alan McKinnon.
The morning after the awards ceremony, he delivered a keynote address on transport resilience, one of the central themes of this year’s conference. The presentation, titled “Seven observations and three recommendations”, reflected on key lessons from research in the field and offered recommendations for strengthening transport systems in the future.
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Presentation “Seven Observations and Three Recommendations”







