A series of BOPALiM meetings were held in Athens between 15th and 21st April 2026. Our YRI Co-ordinator, Dr Cynthia Engels launched the event with an interactive icebreaker and introductory session to support team building for all Young Researchers and Innovators in BOPALiM, who were also joined by other Action members.
All five Working Groups held individual meetings to progress with their ongoing Tasks. WG1, led by Dr Panagiotis Papantoniou, made good progress with the two ongoing literature reviews about driving assessment and fitness-to-drive. Dr Tadhg Stapleton led WG2 discussions on the cross-country regulatory comparison, whereas the WG3 Leader, Dr Selina Egger, supported the Task Co-Leaders in a number of different meetings. The Task 3.2 walking audit was one of the Athens event highlights.
Dr Sophia Vardaki, a WG3 Co-Leader, arranged a unique event for participants to explore how inclusive mobility is currently in a large European capital. The focus was on people with disabilities, which included both mobility and vision impairment. Through her collaboration with Elliniko Metro S.A. and the National Association of the Blind (Πανελλήνιος Σύνδεσμος Τυφλών) in Greece, Dr Vardaki arranged for three local residents with disabilities to offer their first-hand experience of travelling in Athens. Two visually impaired residents, as well as a local wheelchair user through the Me Alla Matia (Με Άλλα Μάτια – Through Other Eyes) Not-for-profit Civil Partnership joined this T3.2 walking audit. Task 3.3 workshops progressed work on pedagogical approaches and about the BOPALiM vignettes. WG3 workshops were followed up by an urban competition organised by Ms Vasia Amprasi, a University of West Attica young researcher who planned and supported all activities in Athens.
WG4 announced the BOPALiM Special Issue launch in the Elsevier journal of Transport & Health through a presentation by its Leader, Dr Nikolas Thomopoulos, and started planning processes in collaboration with the other Guest Editors. VNS activities were also launched by Marko Gluhak to strengthen networking and impact outputs of BOPALiM. WG5 held its first meeting in Athens and its Leader, Dr Sophie Gaber, set out the plans for this new Working Group. This series of events in Athens was concluded with two Core Group and one Management Committee meetings, which offered insight about the Action budget and ongoing Task progress by all WG Leaders. The BOPALiM Chair, Prof. Isabel Margot-Cattin, started the discussions about planning the forthcoming Training Schools which are co-ordinated by the WG4 Co-Leader, Prof. Lana van Niekerk and invited suggestions for 2027-28 Action events.
Overall, this was a very productive series of events, further enhanced by the excellent hospitality and social activities organised by Dr Panagiotis Papantoniou and his team at the University of West Attica.
