Ambassadors Network

The Association for European Transport (AET) has a number of Ambassadors who volunteer to help the AET Board in marketing the European Transport Conference (ETC) and AET Membership in their countries.

Ambassadors ensure that transport organisations and individuals in their countries are adequately informed about AET and its aims and objectives and that they receive timely information in relation to ETC each year. 

In contact with AET’s Board, Ambassadors can also identify and make first contact with distinctive transport professionals in their countries who would be prepared to come to ETC as invited speakers on a subject of great interest to a wider audience or who would be prepared to participate as Programme Committee members when vacancies appear.

The AET Ambassadors Network meets at least twice a year with the AET Board's designated members reporting on their activities, exchanging information and views on AET membership in their countries and reconfirming their willingness to volunteer for the next year.

Current AET Ambassadors

Add us to your LinkedIn network to stay updated and do not hesitate to contact us for any further information!

Name Surname, Affiliation	Short biography
Andre Goncalves, Sweco	Andre Goncalves has several years of experience in transport modelling and planning. He is based in Hasselt, Belgium, working for Sweco as a Transport Modelling Senior Expert. Andre has worked in a wide range of transport modelling projects in the UK, Portugal, Italy and Ireland. His key expertise is the development and application of strategic transport models in the urban context. Andre does have experience in working for both private and public sector clients, and he is an experienced project manager and team manager. Andre has been involved in the Association for European Transport (AET) since 2016. He is currently leading the Programme Committee Young Researchers' and Practitioners' Forum (YRPF) of the European Transport Conference (ETC) and the AET Ambassador for Belgium.
Claire Papaix, Montpellier Business School	Dr Claire Papaix is senior lecturer and researcher in transport economics, she has recently joined Montpellier Business School where she is teaching CSR, ecological transition management and research methods alongside developing her research-action on transport wellbeing analysis. Previously, and after working at the University of Greenwich in London for the past 5 years, she took a short research break to acquire new knowledge in geo-spatial analysis and deepen her expertise in wellbeing appraisal in urban mobility, in collaboration with English Universities (LSE) and French ones (University of Montpellier). She has experience in small business creation and events management having co-founded a startup in the sector of sport and social business, aiming at gathering urban communities through wellness activities, as well as teaching yoga. Her research interests include smart and healthy mobility, citizen science, public health, decision making and tourism management
Anna Filby, ioki - a DB company	Anna is an expert in sustainable, digital and citizen-centered mobility solutions. Her expertise lies in innovation, digitalisation and public transport in combination with new mobility offers for the first and last mile. She believes that focusing on the users’ objectives and requirements offers a great opportunity to reshape how we move in cities.In 2020 Anna founded the Young Mobility Network, a network for young professionals with an affinity for mobility who want to network, exchange ideas, and develop personally. Anna is also an active member of various networks promoting women in mobility. Anna has been AET Ambassador for Germany since October 2020. As she has an extensive network in the German mobility community and pushes her ideas with positive energy.Currently, Anna is International Sales & Business Development Manager at ioki – a DB company, a full-service provider for digital mobility. ioki has developed into the market leader for on-demand mobility in German-speaking countries and is currently opening up further European countries with the UK and Ireland, which are Anna’s areas of expertise.
Dalia Zecchi, Accenture	Dalia Zecchi is a professional with experience in consultancy, asset management and digital transformation in civil infrastructure and transport projects. She is based in Milan, working for Accenture as Consultant with key clients in the transportation infrastructure national market. Previously, she has been part of Jacobs as Project Engineer and Transportation Consultant. Dalia joined the AET in 2020 as a member of the “Young Researchers’ and Practitioners’ Forum” Committee and has been involved in the European Transport Conference for the past years as a speaker and chairwoman, since 2022 when she takes the role of Italian Ambassador. Besides work, Dalia is also the founder of WiMIT – Women in Mobility, Infrastructure, Transport, the Italian community which promotes and connects women working in the sector.
Fulvio Silvestri, Politecnico di Milano	Fulvio Silvestri is a Research Fellow at the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the Politecnico di Milano. He earned his PhD at the University of Rome "Tor Vergata". He conducts research in transport engineering, focusing on demand modeling and supply planning for innovative mobility solutions. He is author of numerous scientific publications and reviewer for the journals "European Transport Research Review" (Springer), "Case Studies on Transport Policy" (Elsevier) and "Journal of Advanced Transportation" (Hindawi). He is also Ambassador to Italy of the Association for European Transport (AET) and Member of the "Young Researchers' and Practitioners' Forum" of the European Transport Conference (ETC).
SabinaPulawska-Obiedowska, Cracow University of Technology	Sabina is the researcher and teacher working at CUT, Dept. of Transportation Systems. Her scientific interests are concentrated on issues of quality, equity and accessibility of urban transport and rail transport problems. She has been involved in international projects related to transport accessibility and equity (COST Action 1002; COST Action 1209, GEECCO H2020). She has led or participated in different commercial projects related to traffic and mobility analyzes for urban and rail transportation. She is an active member of the Polish Association of Engineers and Technicians of Transportation (SITK RP). Recently she was awarded by SITK RP with the ERNEST award in the category: “The best transport expert of the year 2018”. She is also a member of the INWES and the NECTAR network. Since 2019 she holds the position of AET Ambassador.
Sérgio Pedro Duarte, University of Porto	Sérgio Pedro Duarte is a Researcher at the Department of Civil Engineering of the University of Porto, in Portugal, where he obtained his Ph.D. in Transportation Systems. He holds a master in Civil Engineering and a master in Services Engineering and Management. He has worked as a consultant and as an invited lecturer. His main research topics include urban mobility, information systems management and digitalization, decision-making, and service design.
Michele Simoni, KTH Royal Institute of Technology	Michele Simoni is an Assistant Professor at KTH Royal Institute of Technology. Before moving to Stockholm, he worked as a Postdoctoral Associate at the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics. Michele’s research activity is focused on modeling and optimization of advanced solutions for transportation planning. The applications include last mile freight transportation, autonomous vehicles, and traffic flow simulation.
Mengqiu Cao, University of Westminster	Mengqiu (Matthew) Cao (FRGS, FRSS, FRSA, FHEA) is a Senior Lecturer in Transport, Logistics and Urban Planning, and Programme Director of the MSc in Transport Planning and Management at the School of Architecture and Cities, University of Westminster. He was awarded his PhD by University College London (UCL). He works in both academia and industry, specialising in an interdisciplinary research field, which is primarily a mixture of transport analysis and urban studies. In addition, he has also worked with public authorities and international funding organisations.
Tianren Yang, University of Cambridge	Tianren Yang is a doctoral candidate (about to submit) and Cambridge Trust Scholar at the Martin Centre for Architectural and Urban Studies, University of Cambridge. He is interested in developing advanced urban analytics and modelling to provide a scientific understanding of how cities evolve, especially in relation to technology, policy and human behaviour. As a charted urban planner, he has consulted for the Asian Development Bank, Boston Consulting Group and EPSRC Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction on analysing and modelling large-scale urban changes. He is the receipt of Early Career Research Award (shortlisted) from the Royal Town Planning Institute (2019), C. Lowell Harris Dissertation Fellowship from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy (2018) and Future Cities PhD Prize Fellowship from the University of Cambridge (2018).

Become an AET Country Ambassador

The Ambassadors Network is currently looking for Ambassadors from several European countries.

If you are interested in becoming an AET Ambassador you can discuss the possibility with any of the current Ambassadors or make contact with Sanderijn Baanders on: sanderijn.baanders@aetransport.org