Internationally respected academic honoured by the roads industry

The John Shaw Medal honours an "industry champion" who is considered to have made a lasting contribution to Australia's roads. Their contribution must be outstanding and assessed on the basis of its impact on the industry and the community.

Roads Australia is a not-for-profit, non-political industry association with more than 140 members including Australia's road agencies, major contractors and consultants, motoring clubs, service providers, and industry groups.

Professor David Hensher was presented with the prestigious award at the Sydney Town Hall before an audience of 700 senior industry and government representatives including the NSW Minister for Transport and Roads, Andrew Constance.

"This award was well deserved," said Professor Rico Merkert, the ITLS' Chair in Transport and Supply Chain Management. 

In receiving the award medal, Professor Hensher commented that "I am the first academic to receive this award, which has in the past been received by CEOs in industry and government."

"It is also a recognition of the role that the University of Sydney has played in giving me the opportunity to develop, over 30 years, one of the world’s best recognised University groups in the field of transport and logistics," he added.

Professor Hensher, who founded the highly respected ITLS in 1991, is recognised as one of the world’s leading transport economists. 

The John Shaw medal is added to a number of other significant national and international awards recognising his contributions to the transportation policy and planning sector.

His research focusing on transport, infrastructure and logistics has been cited more than 50 thousand times by scholarly publications.

Internationally, Professor Hensher is particularly well known for his work in the development and application of quantitative methods for studying individual choice in a way that can assist with the planning for future transport services and infrastructure, as well as the impact of his research on institutional reforms in the provision of public transport.

Professor Hensher's methods have assisted state and national government to accurately value user benefits and to more accurately estimate the cost of new transport projects.

After graduating in civil engineering from the University of Sydney in 1925, John Shaw worked with the then Main Roads Board of New South Wales, rising to the level of Commissioner in 1962. The John Shaw Award acknowledges his outstanding contribution to roads.