Institute for Transport Studies (ITS)

Professor Greg Marsden

Professor of Transport Governance
Director of the Institute

Phone: +44 (0)113 34 35358
Room: G.13
Email: G.R.Marsden@its.leeds.ac.uk_

[for appointments please contact PA Jennifer Cleaver]

Twitter: @drgregmarsden

Employment History

• 2012 to date Professor of Transport Governance, Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds
• 2005 to 2012 Senior Lecturer, Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds
• 2003 to 2005 Lecturer, Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds
• 2001-2003 Seconded as Committee Specialist, House of Commons Transport Select Committee
• 2002-2003 Lecturer, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Southampton
• 1997-2002 Research Fellow, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Southampton

Education

• MEng Civil Engineering, University of Nottingham, 1994 (1st Class Hons)
• PhD, University of Nottingham, 1998 (Urban pollution estimation)
• PGCLTHE, University of Leeds, 2007

Key Research Interests

My principal research interests are:

• The impact of governance structures and institutions on decision-making
• End user energy demand reduction through innovative transport policies
• Assessment of the sustainability of transport from local to international scales
• The role of information (indicators, appraisal systems and targets) on the dynamics of public policy decision-making
• Evaluation of policy interventions

Research Projects and Experience

• DEMAND - Dynamics of Energy, Mobility and Demand - Sponsor RCUK Energy Programme

• This 5 year research centre commences in May 2013 and is a multi-disciplinary and multi-institution collaboration led by Professor Elizabeth Shove at Lancaster University. The DEMAND Centre (Dynamics of Energy, Mobility and Demand) takes a distinctive approach to end use energy demand, recognising that energy is not used for its own sake but as part of accomplishing social practices at home, at work and in moving around. In essence the Centre focuses on what energy is for. This approach generates an ambitious research agenda that is crucial for organisations involved in demand management and in radically reconfiguring infrastructures, buildings and transport systems in line with greenhouse gas emissions targets. While greater efficiency is important, the trend is often towards more resource intensive standards of comfort, convenience and speed. The problem is that we lack a sophisticated understanding of how these trends take hold and of the underlying dynamics of demand itself. In focusing on how demand is made and met, the Centre will examine changing patterns in mobility and building-related energy use and take forward a wide-ranging agenda for future research and policy. www.demand.ac.uk

• DISRUPTION -new approaches to low carbon energy demand reduction policies Sponsor - EPSRC

• This 3 year project commenced in September 2011 and is a multi-disciplinary and multi-institution collaboration as part of the RCUK energy programme. Dr Marsden is the PI for the project. The research will study at close hand how disruption affects the real choices people make, and what this teaches us about the opportunities to change travel practices at individual level and within families; in organisations that generate travel demand and impact on our own individual travel decision-making; and within government where policy that determines our travel opportunities is made. The project then brings together the different social actors, both 'lay' and 'expert' in a number of forums where they have the opportunity to 'deliberate' the different issues that will emerge throughout the research, and challenge each other about what needs to be done to capture the opportunities for change. www.disruptionproject.net

• The Forge - social science research capacity building network for transport, travel and mobilities
  Sponsor - ESRC

  The Forge is a network of social science researchers interested in novel ways of conceptualising and analysing transport and travel. Its key objectives are to integrate transport researchers - often isolated in areas of applied research - in wider communities of social science/social theory; promote substantive and critical discussion around topics relating to transport, travel and mobility from a range of social scientific perspectives; and to develop a self-sustaining network of researchers in transport, travel and mobilities research that will provide a step-change in the research capacity of the community. www.its.leeds.ac.uk/theforge/

• Multi-level Governance, Transport Policy and Carbon Emissions Management: Accountability and Efficacy in Policy-Making and Outcomes
  Sponsor - ESRC

  The primary objective of the project is to deliver theoretically-informed policy-relevant research by investigating the topic of carbon management within transport policy through the analytical lens of multi-level governance. It achieves this by: mapping the changing structures and processes of multi-level governance in the transport and interacting sectors over time (1980s to present); identifying the distribution of legal, informational, political, constitutional and organisational resources in the relevant policy networks, and the distinct formal and informal governing arrangements that have been developed in different parts of the UK. These theoretical understandings will be tested through a series of deliberative events with the general public and experts, to inform theories and models of multi-level governance. Lessons will be drawn across time and space to inform the policy process, the design of formal institutions and the distribution of powers, incentives and sanctions. The project is in partnership with the University of Sheffield, Napier University and the University of Glasgow. www.its.leeds.ac.uk/transport-carbon

• Competitive Cities - Sponsor: EPSRC

  This project seeks to understand the interaction between city to city competition and fiscal demand management policies by developing new research tools capable of analysing key system design and user response issues in a range of governance environments. My part of the research programme is looking at Public Choice Theory and Tax Competition and developing an understanding of key actor strategies through interviews and scenario work. Research is in collaboration with colleagues in the Modelling group. June 2010 to May-2013

• Understanding Public Attitudes to Climate Change and the Links to Travel Choice - Sponsor: Department for Transport

  The project aims to understand what the public knows about climate change and the contribution that transport makes. The study involved a series of deliberative events with five groups around England. Participants are completing a series of travel diaries and attitudinal questionnaires as well as choosing what information they most need to become better informed. The project traced the impact of the information on the behaviour of the participants and was managed by People, Science and Policy. (£175,000) Complete August 2008.

• Good Practice in the Exploitation of Innovations in Sustainable Urban Transport- Sponsor: Volvo Research Foundation

  The project investigated why innovative policies to promote sustainable transport take so long to transfer between cities and for research to transfer from academia to practice. The research, joint with UC Berkeley, has explored the literature surrounding policy transfer and its application to transport. Interviews with 11 cities in North Europe and North America have been conducted to shed light on the process, constraints and opportunities for policy transfer. Completed May 2009

• Improved indicators for sustainable transport planning- Sponsor: EPSRC

  Research as part of a wider multi-disciplinary project to examine the robustness of current data sources for use in target setting and project evaluation., (£125,000). Completed March 2008

• Optimal incentive structures for integrated transport strategies- Sponsor: EPSRC

  A game-theoretic exploration of the responses of local transport planners to targets and financial settlements linked to performance against those targets (£119,977). First Grant Scheme Completed October 2007.

Professional Engagements

• 2003 to 2008 Advisor to House of Commons Transport Select Committee
• 2004 to 2007 UK Ambassador for Association for European Transport
• 2004 to date Member of the Independent Transport Commission
• 2005 to 2010 Member of EPSRC College
• 2008 to 2011 Research Sub-Committee Co-Chair, TRB Performance Measurement Committee
• 2011 to date Editor - Journal of Transport Policy
• 2012 to date Member of ESRC College

Teaching

• Module leader for Transport Planning and Policy Masters course
• Module leader for Sustainable Transport and Land-Use Planning Masters course

I have a Post Graduate Certificate of Learning and Teaching in Higher Education.

PhD Research Topics

I am happy to consider supervising research projects in a range of areas related to transport policy formulation and implementation from a quantitative and qualitative perspective. In particular I would welcome applications on:

• The transfer of policies at a city, regional or international scale
• The political discourse of transport policy versus the implementation of policy
• The impacts of governance on policy implementation
• Creating effective low carbon strategies

Selected Recent Publications

• Marsden, G., Bache, I. And Kelly, C.E. (2012) A policy perspective on transport and climate change issues, in Transport and Climate Change Issues, Eds. Chapman, L. And Ryley, T., Chapter 8, pp197-224, Emerald, ISBN 978-1-78052-440-5
• Marsden, G, Frick, KT, May, AD and Deakin, E (2012) Bounded rationality in policy learning amongst cities: lessons from the transport sector, Environment and Planning A, 44 (4), 905-920
• Marsden, G. and Docherty, I. (2012) ‘Disruption’: a useful metaphor for transport policy change? Paper presented at WCTRS Urban Transport Policy Special Interest Group Meeting, Vienna, March
• Marsden, G. , Frick, K.T., May, A.D. and Deakin, E. (2011) How do cities approach policy innovation and policy learning? A study of 30 policies in Northern Europe and North America, Transport Policy, 18, 501-512
• Marsden, G. and Stead, D. (2011) Policy Transfer and Learning in the field of Transport: A review of concepts and evidence, Transport Policy, 18, 492-500
• Ison, S.G., Marsden, G. and May, A.D. (2011) Transferability of urban transport policy, Transport Policy, 18, 489-491
• Marsden, G. , Frick, K.T., May, A.D. and Deakin, E. (2010) The Transfer of Innovative Policies between Cities to Promote Sustainability: Case Study Evidence, Transportation Research Record, 2163, 89-96, doi: 10.3141/2163-10
• Marsden, G. and Rye, T. (2010) The governance of transport and climate change, Journal of Transport Geography, 18, 669-678
• Marsden, G., Cattan, M., Jopson, A., and Woodward, J. (2010) Do Transport Planning Tools Reflect the Needs of the Older Traveller? Quality in Ageing and Older Adults, 11(1), 16-24
• Marsden, G. , Kimble, M., Nellthorp, J. and Kelly, C. (2010) Sustainability Appraisal: The definition deficit, International Journal of Sustainable Transport, 4 (4), 1-23
• Marsden, G. (2009) Impacts of performance management on transport planning organizations: Evidence from England, Transportation Research Record, 2119, 105-112 DOI: 10.3141/2119-13
• Marsden, G. and King, S. (2009) Using Deliberative Methods to Understand Travel Choices in the context of Climate Change, Transportation Research Record, 2135, 114-112 DOI: 10.3141/2135-14
• Marsden, G. and Snell, C. (2009) The role of indicators, targets and monitoring in decision-support for transport,European Journal of Transport Infrastructure Research, 9(3), 219-236, www.ejtir.tbm.tudelft.nl
• Marsden, G., Kelly, C. and Nellthorp, J. (2009) The likely impacts of target setting and performance rewards in local transport, Transport Policy, 16 (2), 55-97, doi:10.1016/j.tranpol.2009.03.003
• Marsden, G. , Cattan, M. and Jopson, A. (2008) Understanding the Older Traveller - Talking not technology (2008) Working with Older People, 12(2), p12-15
• Marsden, G. , Kelly, C. and Snell, C. (2006) Selecting indicators for strategic performance management, Transportation Research Record, 1956, 21-30[1]
• Marsden, G. and May, A.D. (2006) Do institutional arrangements make a difference to transport policy and implementation? Lessons for Great Britain. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 24(5), 771-790
• Marsden, G. (2006) The evidence base for parking policies: a review, Transport Policy, 13, 447-457
• Marsden, G. and Bonsall, P. (2006) Understanding the role of performance targets in transport policy, Transport Policy 13 (3), 191-203