Dr Arnab Majumdar

"More than ever before, how people behave is at the heart of safe transport," says Arnab, the Director of the Transport Risk Management Centre (TRMC) at Imperial, which was established following a grant from Lloyd’s Register Foundation. "Whether we’re studying buses in Taiwan, trains in the UK or planes in Canada, it’s clear that culture and human behaviour are increasingly important aspects of protecting lives and property."

An engineer by profession, Arnab has concluded that maths and engineering are only part of the safety picture: "Transport is fundamentally about people. Look at congestion pricing: the logistics and data may support it, but if people don’t agree with the need for it then it won’t work. The situation is now being exacerbated by COVID-19 – in aviation, for example, one of the major risks now is not the physical safety of the plane itself but passenger behaviour around air travel in general."

Arnab’s enthusiasm for his subject is infectious. And during his time at the TRMC he’s inspired 15 PhD students (and counting) to build careers dedicated to improving how societies around the world assess and manage safety risks.

"I’m enormously impressed by the talent and dedication of my students, many of whom come from disadvantaged communities," he adds. "The way we think about safety has been transformed over the last 20 to 30 years – and we’re continuing to learn and adapt. Of course, cultural change isn’t easy and improvements will take time. But I know that thanks to the backing from the Lloyd's Register Foundation, our students will have the skills and opportunities to make the world a safer place."