Five new researchers have been awarded the prestigious Lee Schipper Memorial Scholarship for Sustainable Transport and Energy Efficiency for transformative research proposals that challenge conventional wisdom.

Since 2013, the Scholarship has continued the legacy of Lee Schipper’s enrichment of international policy dialogue in sustainable transport and energy efficiency. Schipper, a physicist, researcher, musician and co-founder of EMBARQ (today, the Urban Mobility program of WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities), inspired and shaped the thinking of a generation of students and professionals. Volvo Research and Educational Foundations (VREF) and Kuehne Climate Center support the scholarship, which provides funding and mentoring advice to promising young researchers.

The 2026 Lee Schipper Memorial Scholarship awardees are: 

Ayodeji Stephen Adekanbi for his research proposal “Decarbonizing Port Operational Equipment: Vessel Operations and Ship-to-Shore Energy Systems at Lagos Port.” He is a Ph.D. candidate in mechanical and manufacturing engineering at Dublin City University. He holds a Master of Science in renewable energy economics from the University of Ibadan and a bachelor's in physics from the University of Ilorin, both in Nigeria. His research will examine the technical feasibility of three decarbonization pathways for Lagos’ Apapa Port Complex: shore-to-ship power and grid electrification, low-carbon fuels and hydrogen fuel cells. Adekanbi will collect original data through a quantitative survey and interviews with port stakeholders. He will estimate baseline port emissions, model emission reduction scenarios and assess the impact of different decarbonization pathways on smaller firms. The research will include a comparative case study of the Port of Rotterdam and a roadmap for staged decarbonization responsive to International Maritime Organization targets.

Alicia Fortuin-Brown for her research proposal “Electrifying Cape Town’s Last-Mile Logistics: Risk, Labor and Just Transitions.” Fortuin-Brown is a researcher at the University of Cape Town’s African Centre for Cities. She holds a Ph.D. in architecture and planning, a Master of City and Regional Planning, and a Bachelor of Science in environmental and geographical sciences and sociology from the University of Cape Town (UCT). Her research examines how the electrification of Cape Town’s platform-based delivery services redistributes who is responsible for providing and maintaining vehicles, charging infrastructure and mobility itself. Fortuin-Brown evaluates the success of electrified logistics not only on a technical basis, but also on how equitably the costs, risks, responsibilities and opportunities of a transition are distributed. She will conduct interviews with actors across the electrified delivery ecosystem to document their experiences of vehicle ownership, financing, maintenance and charging. The research will identify pathways toward a just transition in last-mile logistics, outlining recommendations for policymakers, urban planners and industry actors on how the transition can be governed more equitably.

Cheng-Kai Hsu for his proposal “Thermal Elasticity of Urban Mobility Across Four Latin American Countries.” Hsu is an assistant professor at Arizona State University’s School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning. He holds a Ph.D. in city and regional planning from the University of California, Berkeley, a Master of Science in transport from Imperial College London and a bachelor’s degree in urban planning from National Cheng Kung University. His research examines how extreme heat can suppress, postpone or reconfigure urban mobility in Latin America. The project will draw on location-based services data from major cities in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico, paired with high-resolution, gridded temperature data from the ERA5-Land climate reanalysis. Hsu will also conduct neighborhood-level analyses in selected Brazilian cities and develop practical recommendations for heat-resilient mobility planning.

Adejumo John Olukorede for his proposal “Fuel, Food, and Friction: Measuring Last-Mile Freight Inefficiency in Lagos' Informal Markets.” Olukorede is a Master of Science in transport and logistics candidate at Lagos State University, where he also completed a bachelor’s in transport technology and infrastructure. His research identifies ways to reduce energy use, costs and food waste in Lagos’ informal food markets, using Mile 12 International Market, one of West Africa’s largest perishable food hubs, as a primary case study. Through field observations, GPS trip tracking, and a survey of transporters and traders at Mile 12 Market, Olukorede will measure and map the accumulated inefficiencies along the last mile of the informal freight supply chain. Based on his findings, his research will recommend low-cost interventions to reduce inefficiencies in the informal market.

Yufei Wang for her proposal “Community-based Street Transformation in London, San Francisco and Singapore.” Wang is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Architecture at the National University of Singapore. She also holds a Master of Philosophy in urban governance and design from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), a master's degree in urban research from the University of Glasgow, and a bachelor’s degree in urban and rural planning from South China University of Technology. Wang’s research will examine real-world neighborhood-scale street transformation projects across London, San Francisco and Singapore as case studies. Through document analysis and semi-structured, walk-along interviews with community members and public-sector staff, Wang will identify mechanisms through which community involvement shapes substantive planning outcomes under different political and institutional contexts. She will produce a practical guide for planners, policymakers, elected officials and community groups on how to design meaningful community engagement that enables local knowledge to influence street transformations.

With the support of WRI and the World Bank, several of the scholars will present their work at the Transforming Transportation conference in March 2027 to recognize and inspire future researchers to shape the future of the transport sector.

On behalf of the Scholarship Board and the Schipper Family, co-founders Holger Dalkmann and Ramon Munoz-Raskin congratulate the new scholars and thank VREF, the Kuehne Climate Center and other partners for their support.

Explore More:
Cities transportation Urban Mobility