Cycling and Society Symposium

Dr Graeme Sherriff of the Sustainable Housing and Urban Studies Unit in the School of Health and Society co-hosted the annual international Cycling and Society research symposium on 14 and 15 September with Gabriele Schliwa from the University of Manchester.

The event, held at both Manchester Town Hall and MediaCityUK, brought together more than 70 academics, policy makers and campaigners to present and discuss the latest research under the theme ‘Cycling in the City and for the City’.

The event received financial support from the University’s Higher Education Innovation Funding, Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) and Manchester City Council, whose employees took part in the sessions.

More than 20 researchers gave presentations of their work on themes including infrastructure development, increasing cycling across all age groups, the behaviour and conduct of those who cycle, and the role of electric bikes. Two workshops were also held exploring ways to share experiences of those cities that have successfully increased cycling and a new national tool to estimate the potential uptake in cycling at the local level.

Delegates arriving on Sunday afternoon were treated to a choice of two cycle tours. One tour looked at the area’s cycle infrastructure and the other, ‘Lowry by bike’ was an opportunity to bring together cycling and the city’s cultural heritage.

More about the network and future symposia at www.cyclingandsociety.org