Simone Paradiso, NTUA PhD Candidate & Researcher, received the Best Poster Award during the Porsche Symposium for Scientific and Practical Progress in AI, which was held in Stuttgart, on 26 June 2025 as part of the GSERM St. Gallen Summer School 2025. The Symposium included keynote speeches, discussions and a poster session focusing on Generative AI with LLMs. The award for the best poster concerned:
OASA together with NTUA organized with great success the OASA Electrification Workshop which was held on 4 July 2025, in Athens, as part of the Horizon Europe project metaCCAZE. The event marked a significant step forward in co-designing the future of clean, efficient, and citizen-centered public transport in the Greek capital. Participants included representatives from OASA, OSY, NTUA, DEDDIE, the Greek Ministry of Transport and other local and national actors involved in sustainable mobility. Together, they worked to validate not only the technical functionality of the tools but also the governance, business models, and stakeholder dynamics that will determine the success of electrification efforts in the real world.
The International Traffic Safety Data and Analysis Group (IRTAD) of the International Transport Forum (ITF/OECD) and NTUA are co-organizing the 8th IRTAD International Conference: Better Road Safety Data for Better Safety Performance which will be held in Athens, Greece, on 15-17 April 2026. The objectives of the Conference are to discuss improvements in the quality of data systems and data analysis in IRTAD and other countries by fostering knowledge transfer among participants, with particular emphasis on road safety performance. The Conference is open to all and is primarily for the attention of road safety researchers, data analysts, those involved in collecting safety data and developing databases, and all those using the results of research to advise decision makers on road safety matters. Researchers can submit their abstracts until 30 September 2025. 
A new book titled The Routledge Handbook of Sustainable Urban Transport edited by Lucy Budd, Stephen Ison and Maria Attard has been recently published. This Handbook offers a comprehensive exploration of urban transport sectors, as well as the challenges, impacts and issues being faced. Furthermore, this Monograph exploits technical, social and economic solutions for sustainable urban transport. NTUA actively contributed with the following chapter, co-authored by George Yannis and Eleonora Papadimitriou:
The Institute of Communications & Computer Systems (ICCS) together with International Road Federation (IRF) and several other Organizations, organized with great success the International Symposium Navigating the Future of Traffic Management in Athens, Greece on 29 June – 3 July 2025. This Conference focused on four thematic tracks: digitalization in traffic management, sustainable mobility strategies, integrated infrastructure systems, and road safety innovations. These tracks aimed to address the complex challenges of modern traffic management and offer actionable insights for a safer and more efficient transportation future. 
NTUA actively contributed with the following papers, posters and presentations:
NTUA actively contributed with the following papers, posters and presentations:
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Predicting Pedestrian Violations Using Object Detection and Deep Learning: A Comparative Study of LSTM & GRU Models - A Geo-Spatial Analysis of Unsafe Traffic Events and Crash Occurrence at Urban Intersections: Insights from Telematics Data and Machine Learning
- Hybrid Modelling for Risky Driving Behavior Classification: Insights from Naturalistic Driving Study
- Preferences of Public Transport Passengers Towards Contactless Bank Card Payments
- Combining diverse data sources for intersection crash analyses based on incomplete records
- Training a YOLO-based model for speed limit sign recognition
- Road Safety Knowledge Exchange in Low and Middle Income Countries
The Secretariat of the African Road Safety Observatory is organizing a Webinar on road safety performance indicators which will take place online, on 14 July 2025. The webinar aims to enhance mutual learning, encourage regional alignment, and stimulate future capacity-building activities related to SPI development and use. This event will bring together national road safety coordinators, members of regional observatories, policymakers, and technical experts to explore the added value of SPIs, the use of appropriate methodologies, and good practices from Africa and other world regions. 
BMW in cooperation with Chip Design Germany organized with great success the 2025 BMW Summer School which took place in Saint-Raphaël, France on 29 June – 4 July 2025. This year’s event focused on the topic of trust and safety in artificial intelligence, a broad field of discussion and growing relevance at the crossroads of technology, psychology, product safety, law, economics, and ethics. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:
NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:
The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs announced the first ever UN Decade of Sustainable Transport 2026 – 2035 starting in 2026. The Implementation Plan of the UN Decade of Sustainable Transport is expected to serve as a strategic framework to coordinate actions, mobilize resources, and monitor progress towards sustainable transport worldwide. It will be an opportunity to further raise awareness of transport’s crucial role in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals and to gather and rally new solutions, resources and partnerships to advance sustainable transport globally.
The World Bank Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF) together with SSATP has published the 2025 Status Report on Road Safety in Africa analyzing findings for road safety on the African continent. The 2025 Africa Status Report on Road Safety reveals that, despite having only 3% of the global vehicle fleet, Africa accounts for 24% of global road fatalities with 259,601 deaths annually. This highlights the urgent need for safer pedestrian and cycling facilities to protect vulnerable road users.
The ETSC Annual Report 2024 , highlights a year of impactful advocacy and cross-border collaboration in the pursuit of safer roads across Europe. From championing 30 km/h urban speed limits and tackling loopholes in EU vehicle safety regulations, to supporting EU Member States through the EU-funded Road Safety Exchange programme, ETSC continues to be a leading voice for road safety in Europe. The report also celebrates milestones such as Finland’s PIN Award for outstanding progress on road safety, the #IWillBeALifesaver campaign, and award-winning educational initiative LEARN!
The UN Road Safety Fund continues to support low and middle-income countries to do that by providing road safety expertise to close gaps on road safety data, enforcement practices, vehicle safety, legislative frameworks, post-crash care, urban street design, among other topics.
This UNRSF report shares highlights of how collective efforts are saving lives and driving systemic change in road safety. They include:
This UNRSF report shares highlights of how collective efforts are saving lives and driving systemic change in road safety. They include:
- Brazil’s creation of a national crash data system to inform risk-based infrastructure and enforcement planning;
- Nepal’s integration of road safety into national policy and first responder training along high-risk corridors;
- Senegal’s Ten-Step Plan to embed safety in infrastructure design and influence development bank investments;
- Colombia’s use of participatory urban design to improve pedestrian safety around schools and in vulnerable communities
- These milestones, made possible with support from the UN Road Safety Fund, mark important progress on the long journey to improve road safety.
The Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS) works with governments and communities to prevent road crashes, deaths and injuries. Since 2007, the initiative has helped implement proven road safety interventions across 22 countries. Currently, the initiative is supporting work in 27 cities and two states across 15 low- and middle-income countries.
Its Resources Hub includes case studies and guidance focusing on five areas:
Its Resources Hub includes case studies and guidance focusing on five areas:
- Strengthening legislation and Leadership
- Enhancing data collection and surveillance
- Changing road user behavior with media campaigns and enhanced enforcement
- Improving road infrastructure
- Advancing vehicle safety
The Horizon Europe research project metaCCAZE has recently released a new Blog Post authored by George Yannis on the new Greek Road Traffic Code. The new Road Traffic Code introduces city-wide 30 km/h speed limit in all urban streets of one or two directions with a single lane per direction, making Greece the second EU country after Spain to implement such a measure. It is also rationalising and simplifying penalties and linking them to the offences’ seriousness and magnitude. Furthermore it introduces a number of correct and necessary traffic management provisions with emphasis on motorcycles and the 30km/h speed limit in cities.
The Horizon 2020 research project PHOEBE has recently released the PHOEBE 5th Newsletter, which provides information on the latest outcomes of the EU-funded ‘Predictive Approaches for Safer Urban Environment’ (PHOEBE) project aiming to increase the road safety of vulnerable road users, especially those who use active mobility and e-scooters. Particular attention was given to the conclusion of the Project’s model development for the safety of vulnerable road users and the safety use case implementation.
The European Platform of Transport Sciences (EPTS) organized with great success the 23rd European Transport Congress which was held in Paris, France on 26-27 June 2025, under the theme “Future of European transport: infrastructure, service and technologies“. Key topics discussed in this Conference were sustainable mobility and safety, railway transport, challenges in metropolises, airline transport and freight transport. NTUA actively contributed with the following paper and presentation:
NTUA actively contributed with the following paper and presentation:
The European Commission together with 2Zero, ERTRAC, CCAM and BATT4EU are organizing the Road Transport Research Results Conference (RTR Conference) will take place in Brussels, on 10-12 February 2026. For the past eight years, the RTR Conference has been a unique entry point into the achievements of EU-funded projects in road transport. This year’s 9th edition Conference is expected to attract its largest audience to date, with more than 500 participants on-site, emphasizing the importance of pre-competitive collaborative research in road transport at the European level.
A paper titled Investigating the impact of in-vehicle warning information complexity on drivers: The role of working memory capacity and cognitive load authored by Kunchen Li, Wei Yuan, George Yannis, Fuwei Wu and Chang Wang has been published in Accident Analysis & Prevention. This Paper investigates the impact of the complexity of the warning messages on the behavior and physiological states of the driver, taking into account individual differences in working memory capacity and cognitive load levels. A total of 37 participants were recruited to conduct a mixed design driving simulation experiment, with working memory capacity treated as a between-subjects factor. The analysis included correlation as well as a Generalized Linear Mixed-effects Model (GLMM). The findings suggest that visually rich warnings lead to increased braking reaction times, especially between drivers having low working memory capacity and under high cognitive load. These findings offer theoretical insights to assist manufacturers in designing human-centered, personalized, and adaptive in-vehicle warning systems. 
The European Survey of Road users’ safety Attitudes (ESRA) together with VIAS Institute organized with great success the ESRA: 10 years event of global road safety insights and impact which took place in Brussels, Belgium on 24 June 2025. This event was a unique opportunity to reflect on the evolution of the ESRA initiative and its impact on road safety policy. Key findings from 10 years of research were presented, unveiling a dedicated report and the new ESRA dashboard, and will be explored how these insights can drive future improvements in road safety. Furthermore, ESRA4 was introduced, the next phase in the mission to create safer roads through data-driven strategies. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentations:
NTUA actively contributed with the following presentations:
The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) organized with great success the 2025 ETSC Road Safety Performance Index Conference which took place in Brussels, Belgium on 24 June 2025. ETSC presented the findings of the PIN Annual Report looking at progress in reducing road deaths and serious injuries across Europe. Furthermore, a panel discussion looked at how reducing speed could help reach the 2030 target of reducing road deaths and serious injuries by 50%. The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has also awarded its 2025 Road Safety Performance Index (PIN) Award to Norway, recognizing its long-term performance in improving road safety. NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:
NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:
The 10th Road Safety & Simulation International Conference 2026 (RSS2026) hosted by the University of Naples Federico II will be held in Napoli, on 23-26 June 2026, under the theme “Advancing Towards the Safe System Approach”. The Conference aims to explore how the Safe System Approach has been embraced by the transportation community as an effective way to prevent fatalities and serious injuries on our roadways. Researchers can submit their abstracts until 31 October 2025.
