"From little things big things grow" may be a popular Australian protest song, but it can apply to research contexts as well. When a researcher is well-prepared, has situated herself in a supportive research environment and makes the right connections during industry events, a journal article can grow into an important partnership with the Victorian Department of Transport (VDOT).
Dr Lucy Gunn's affiliation with the advisory board for the Urban Futures Platform funded "Early delivery of equitable and healthy transport options in new suburbs," project led by Professor Robin Goodman did just that - elevated her research and helped disseminate it to the right industry-based people.
Her work with the VDOT links outputs from strategic transport models to the Health Impact Assessment Model, which quantifies the benefits to health that come from being physically active when using public transport.
In 2021, the project expanded with a Health Impact Assessment portal that sits within the Australian Urban Observatory. A further ripple effect has come with the VDOT providing letters of support for further research exploring the health impacts associated with travel behaviour that has helped to secure a jointly funded grant with the United Kingdom Research Institute and the National Health and Medical Research Council amounting to over $800,000.
The lockdown in Melbourne made Gunn's and the Urban Futures’ research all the more relevant, with commuters realising they are missing out on some of the benefits of daily incidental physical activity and public transport use.
