HVTT18: Trucking toward S2MART transport

Welcome Reception

Don’t miss the welcome cocktail reception, the ideal way to kick off the conference in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere! It’s an excellent opportunity to meet other participants, expand your professional network and make valuable contacts. You’ll also be able to explore the conference venue in a convivial atmosphere, while enjoying a bite to eat. Join us as we kick off this international event on a festive and inspiring note!

Social Event

For accompanying persons, students and day registrations only. Discover the Centre de formation en transport de Charlesbourg, a unique public truck driving school, where you can enjoy a food truck, the famous Poutine, craft beers and truck simulators. An unforgettable evening!

CTRF Live from Ottawa ! Build a Canadian data ecosystem to support road freight transport research.

For more informations: https://ctrf.ca/news/2025-annual-conference/

Technical Tours

Part 1: Manac (trailer manufacturer)
No extra charge. In addition to or as an alternative to Technical Tour 2, visit one of the Manac factories, Canada’s leading manufacturer of semi-trailers. Witness the production of the high-quality Alutrec flatbed trailers and Cobra lightweight dump trailers, made from Canada’s iconic material, aluminium. Discover the latest advances in trailer weight and size, design and connectivity. Register early, places are limited!
Part 2: Universite Laval
No extra charge. To complement or replace Technical Tour 1, you will have the opportunity to visit a full-scale road wear simulator specialising in heavy vehicles and cold climates, right on the ULaval campus. We will also have displays, including a hybrid forestry truck (electrocamion).

Gavin Hill

President, HVTT Forum

Gavin has twenty-five years of experience in land transport reform and regulation. He is widely known for his leadership in delivering major policy reforms in the heavy vehicle industry. Gavin is recognised for his ability to manage complex stakeholder environments by navigating strategic, regulatory, technological and operational dimensions. Gavin is known globally through his work with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development/International Transport Form, and the International Forum for Heavy Vehicle Transport & Technology. Gavin is the General Manager of Strategic Engagement and Performance at Austroads – the association of Australian and New Zealand transport agencies. He holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration and an Honours Degree in Economics.
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Julien Lépine

Chair, HVTT18 Symposium

Julien Lépine is an Associate Professor at the Department of Operations and Decision Systems at Université Laval in Québec City and a member of the Interuniversity Research Centre on Enterprise Networks, Logistics and Transportation (CIRRELT). Formerly, he was a Research Associate at the Sustainable Road Freight Centre and Cambridge University Engineering Department, and a Postdoctoral Associate at St-Catharine’s College, Cambridge. He is primarily working on sustainable transport with research projects on heavy vehicle fuel consumption modelling, rolling resistance, tire wear, alternative fuel and cargo securement. Julien has also been a member and Secretary of the HVTT forum since 2022.

Jean-Pascal Bilodeau

Université Laval

Jean-Pascal Bilodeau is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Civil Engineering and Water Engineering at Université Laval in Québec City. He holds the Sentinel North Research Chair on Northern Infrastructures. He primarily works in the field of transportation infrastructure engineering in cold climates for a resilient and durable development of northern regions. He also develops research programs on the analysis, design and rehabilitation of materials and pavement structures.

Amy Kim

University of British Columbia

Amy Kim is a Professor of Civil Engineering at UBC Vancouver, on Musqueam Traditional Territory. She is interested in how long-distance, multimodal transportation systems perform in connecting communities across large geographies, particularly under disruptions caused by natural hazards and other climate-related events. She aims to support infrastructure and operational decision-making for adaptation, emergency planning, and community resilience, and train values-driven engineering practitioners and researchers. Amy was at the University of Alberta prior to joining UBC in 2021. Between her MS and PhD studies at the University of California, Berkeley, Amy worked in the transportation consulting practice in California and BC.

Guy Doré

Université Laval

Guy Doré has graduated in geological engineering at Laval University in 1980. He has later completed a master degree (M.Sc.) in engineering geology and a doctoral (Ph.D.) degree in civil engineering at Laval University. As a professor emeritus at the civil engineering department of Laval University, Guy has been teaching several pavement engineering and cold region engineering courses. He has also been very active in research on pavement response and performance in cold climates as well as on permafrost engineering. He published nearly 200 papers in peer reviewed journals. Amongst other publications, he co-authored the books “Cold regions pavement engineering” published by ASCE press and McGraw Hill, and “Guidelines for development and management of transportation infrastructure in permafrost regions” published by the transportation association of Canada. He held the NSERC industrial research chair on the interaction between trucks, climate and pavements and he led the “ARQULUK” research program on permafrost engineering applied to transportation infrastructure. He is now retired but still actively involved in courses and research in cold regions engineering.

Emil Tagho

Société de développement de la Baie-James

Emil Tagho, ing. MBA, is Vice President of Infrastructure at the Société de Développement de la Baie-James (SDBJ). He oversees the management of 2,400 km of roads as well as six airports and airfields, ensuring accessibility and development of the northern territory. He also leads major projects, including the refurbishment of the Billy-Diamond Road, a strategic investment of $700 million. With over 13 years of experience in infrastructure management and partnership development, he played a key role in the creation of Aakutaah Inc. and Nikaanch Inc., two companies specializing in airport management, developed in partnership with the Cree. He sits on several strategic committees, including the interministerial committee on the refurbishment of the Billy-Diamond Road and the committee on the management of roads in the northern territory. A member of the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec, he holds an MBA in business management from Université Laval.

Catherine Lawson

University of Albany

Dr. Catherine T. Lawson is a Professor in the Department of Geography, Planning, & Sustainability and an Affiliated Faculty member of the Department of Informatics, in the College of Emergency, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity at the University at Albany, SUNY. She received her BA in Accounting and Economics from Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA. She received her MA in Economics, MURP in Urban Planning, and PhD in Urban Studies/Regional Science, from Portland State University (PSU), Portland, Oregon. Her research interests include freight planning, the use of vehicle probe data, and applied data science methodologies for transportation planning and resilience.

Mark Partington

FP Innovations

Mark Partington is the Manager of Transportation and Infrastructure at FPInnovations which develops, evaluates, and implements innovative solutions for transportation and road management. Mark has over 25 years of experience in research, project management and team leadership. Over the years, FPInnovations has been heavily involved in regulatory approvals of new truck configurations involving vehicle dynamics, infrastructure analysis and economic assessments. More recently, FPInnovations has led the testing of autonomous trucks on forest roads, developed the first prototype electric-powered log trailer and continues to evaluate emerging technologies such as zero-emission, low-emission, and alternative fuel technology for heavy vehicles. Mark is a professional forester with a B.Sc. in Forestry from the University of New Brunswick and a M.Sc. in Renewable Resources from McGill University.

David Cebon

University of Cambridge

David Cebon, ScD, FREng is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering in Cambridge University Engineering Department. He is the Director of the Centre for Sustainable Road Freight and the Cambridge Vehicle Dynamics Consortium. Professor Cebon has authored or co-authored many papers on dynamics, safety, manoeuvrability, energy consumption and decarbonisation of heavy vehicles.

Eddy Zuppel

National Research Council of Canada

Eddy is currently the Program Leader of the Clean & Energy Efficient Transportation program at the National Research Council of Canada (NRC). He oversees research and development activities aimed at assisting Canadian industry and policy development in the vehicle electrification sector. Eddy serves on the board of directors of Electric Mobility Canada and FINNOV, which is a non-profit organization supporting the development of power electronics. He has also served on the board of InnovÉÉ, a Quebec government organization that assists in the development of electric vehicle, grid and power generation technologies. Eddy joined the NRC in 2015 as a senior project manager following eleven years in the aerospace industry where he held different managerial positions, including Section Chief of a multidisciplinary team of 20 engineers. He holds a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Engineering from McGill University and has co-authored eight scientific publications in addition to over 50 technical reports.

Jonathan Regehr

University of Manitoba

Jonathan Regehr is an Associate Professor (Transportation) and Associate Head (Undergraduate) of Civil Engineering at the University of Manitoba and works as a private transportation consultant. His research and consulting experience involves transportation information systems and analysis, freight transportation, railway engineering, traffic engineering, and road safety. He is Co-Director of the Urban Mobility and Transportation Informatics Group (UMTIG) at the University of Manitoba. Working with federal, provincial, municipal, and private sector partners, Dr. Regehr’s research contributes to advancements in transportation engineering practice and policymaking in Canada and internationally. Dr. Regehr currently serves on the boards of the Heavy Vehicle Transport and Technology Forum and the International Society for Weigh-in-Motion. He is the former Chair of the Transportation Research Board Committee on Highway Traffic Monitoring and the Education Committee of the Transportation Association of Canada.

Daniel Ainalis

National Transport Research Organisation, Australia

Dr. Daniel Ainalis is a Senior Technology Leader in the Life Cycle and Economic Assessment Portfolio within the Sustainability and Materials Performance team at the National Transport Research Organisation in Australia. He has extensive experience in the decarbonisation of road freight and has numerous publications on assessing the environmental and economic benefits of alternatively fuelled heavy goods vehicles and transport infrastructure. Previously, Daniel was the Research Manager of the Centre for Sustainable Road Freight at the University of Cambridge, and also spent time as a Research Associate in the Centre for Transport Studies at Imperial College London.

Alison Conway

City College of New York

Alison Conway is an Associate Professor of Civil Engineering at the City College of New York and the Deputy Director of the Center for Social and Economic Mobility for People and Communities through Transportation (SEMPACT), the US DOT Regional University Transportation Center for Region 2. She is the current Chair of the Transportation Research Board’s Freight Data Committee and the past Chair of the ASCE Transportation and Development Institute’s Freight and Logistics Committee.

Bruno G. Pollet

Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières

Bruno G. Pollet has worked on hydrogen energy in the UK, Japan, South Africa, Norway, and Canada, and has both industrial and academic experience. He is currently a full professor of chemistry, director of the Green Hydrogen Lab and a member of the Hydrogen Research Institute at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières in Canada. He holds two research chairs: the NSERC Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Green Hydrogen Production and the INNERGEX Research Chair in Renewable Hydrogen Production.

Bruna Rego de Vasconcelos

Université de Sherbrooke

Bruna Rego de Vasconcelos is an Associate Professor at the Université de Sherbrooke (Canada), Director of the Biomass Technology Laboratory and CTO of Secant Fuel. She holds a Chemical Engineering from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (Brazil) and has a mixed international academic-industrial background passing through Brazil, France, Belgium and Quebec. She has worked for more than 10 years in partnership with industry to develop new solutions for upgrading greenhouse gases into low-carbon energy vectors. Her work is focused on the development and integration of Power-to-X technologies for the production of e-fuels. She also works life cycle and techno-economic assessments to support the development and scale-up of these technologies.

Imad Al-Qadi

University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign

Imad L. Al-Qadi is the Grainger Distinguished Chair in Engineering and the founding Director of the Illinois Center for Transportation (ICT). Prior to that, he was the Charles E. Via, Jr. Professor at Virginia Tech. He has led more than 180 research projects to completion, manages ~60 projects annually as ICT director, authored/co-authored more than 1000 publications, and advised more than 100 PhD students and postdocs. Al-Qadi has received numerous national and international honors and awards, including the NSF Young Investigator Award, the quadrennial IGS Award, the ASCE James Laurie Prize, Turner, Carl Monismith Lecture, and Robert Horonjeff Airport Transportation Awards, ARTBA Steinberg Award, TRR of the National Academies D. Grant Mickle and Woods Awards, and the French Limoges Medal. He is an Emeritus Member of TRB and a Life member of AAPT. He served as the President of the ASCE T&DI Board of Governors and Chaired the APSE Board of Directors and is the Editor-in-Chief of the IJPE. In 2010, he was elected as an ASCE Distinguished Member and was the 2023 recipient of the TRB Roy W. Crumb Distinguished Service Award, the 2024 UIUC Executive Officer Distinguished Leadership Award, and the 2024 U of I President’s Executive Leadership Program Fellow. He is also the recipient of the 2024 CUTC Lifetime Achievement Award for University Transportation Education and Research.

Frédéric Pellerin

Ministère des Transports et de la Mobilité durable du Québec (MTMD)

Mr. Frédéric Pellerin holds a bachelor’s degree in geological engineering from Université Laval as well as a master’s degree in the recycling of road materials.

Mr. Pellerin began his career as a project manager for a materials control laboratory before joining the ministère des Transports du Québec in 2000 where he has held various positions. Initially working as an engineer in the Service de la géotechnique et de la géologie, he continued his career from 2001 to 2006 in the Service de la qualité et des normes, most notably as head of the Secteur des documents contractuels. He then joined the Direction générale territoriale de la Capitale-Nationale as a project manager in road infrastructures and, in 2010, he began his management career when he became the head of the Service des acquisitions followed by a promotion to a position as head of the Service de la gestion contractuelle. In 2014, he returned to a regional post as director of projects for the Direction générale de la Chaudière-Appalaches, before being appointed as general manager. He held that position until November 2018, when he was named general manager of major road projects in the metropolitan region of Québec.

In June 2022, he was appointed assistant deputy minister of the Sous-ministériat à l’ingénierie et aux infrastructures at the ministère des Transports et de la Mobilité durable du Québec. He has since been actively involved in the Foundation of the Transportation Association of Canada (TAC) and is a member of the TAC Council of Chief Engineers. He is also the First Delegate of Canada-Quebec to the Council of the World Road Association (PIARC).

Yan Cimon

Département de management
Université Laval

Yan Cimon, Ph.D., is the Director of the Interuniversity Research Center on Enterprise Networks, Logistics and Transportation (CIRRELT) and a Full Professor of Strategy at the Faculty of Business Administration at Université Laval (Quebec, Canada). A former senior executive at the university, he has taught senior executives on four continents and is involved with the Collège des administrateurs de sociétés (College of Corporate Directors). He taught for about twelve years in the Executive Master in Global Supply Chain Management program at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (Switzerland). He is a member of the Steering Committee of the Observatory on the Quality of Food Supply and the Scientific Committee of the Institute for Intelligence and Data (IID). His research and consulting work focus on business models across various industries. He held the Fulbright Visiting Chair in Innovation at the University of Washington (Seattle), where he studied the integration of Canadian-American value chains. His research has led to collaborations with several companies and government agencies and has received numerous awards. Finally, he currently serves on the boards of the Association internationale de recherche en logistique et supply chain management (AIRL-SCM, France) and Pôle Québec Logistique, the Québec Logistical hub. He was elected to Alpha Iota Delta.

Sophie D'amours

Rectrice
Université Laval

Professor Sophie D’Amours is the first woman and the 26th person to hold the position of rector of Université Laval in Quebec City. Elected in 2017, she was re-elected for a second term in 2022.

Sophie D’Amours is a mechanical engineer. She holds a master’s degree in business administration from Université Laval as well as a doctorate in engineering mathematics from École Polytechnique de Montréal. Having served as a professor in Université Laval’s Department of Mechanical Engineering since 1995 and as the University’s vice-rector of research and innovation from 2012 to 2015, she has a wide range of experience in higher education, research and university management, both home and abroad.

Her career is marked by significant research contributions in business engineering and planning, particularly in the forestry sector. She has held a Canada Research Chair and an Industrial Research Chair from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and has led national and international initiatives in her field. She has been a visiting professor in many countries.

Sophie D’Amours is particularly proud of Université Laval’s impact in responding to societal challenges and improving population well-being. She is committed to furthering that contribution by supporting innovation in higher education, fostering research partnerships, and increasing Université Laval’s presence in the community and on the world stage.

Committed and driven, Sophie D’Amours places a premium on teamwork, efficiency, and network collaboration. In addition to her duties at Université Laval, she is the former president of the Board of Directors of Universities Canada, she sat on the board of the International Development Research Centre of Canada and sits on the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Educational Exchange between Canada and the United States, the Fulbright Canada Program. Sophie D’Amours also chaired in 2021-2022 the international evaluation committee of INRAE, and now serves as vice-chair of the international evaluation committee of CNRS, on behalf of Haut Conseil de l’évaluation de la recherche et de l’enseignement supérieur (Hcéres) in France.

Sophie D’Amours is committed to the economic and social development of Quebec and the Capitale-Nationale region. She is president of the Conseil de l’innovation du Québec and she sits on the board of directors of Québec International and Le Diamant.

Sophie D’Amours has received numerous awards and distinctions during her career. With colleagues, she received the prestigious Brockhouse Canada Prize. She was also awarded the Prix Henri-Gustave-Joly-de-Lotbinière by Ordre des ingénieurs forestiers du Québec and the Harold Larnder prize for international distinction in operations research. She is an Officer of the Order of Québec, Officer of the Order of Canada, an Officer of the National Order of Merit of the French Republic, a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering and an International Fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry.

Frank Pons

Doyen
Faculté des sciences de l'administration

Frank Pons has held the position of full professor in the Department of Marketing at FSA ULaval since 2007. He holds a PhD in Marketing from Concordia University (2004) and an MBA from Université Laval (1997). On July 1, 2020, he became the 15th Dean of FSA ULaval.

Frank Pons is very involved in university life and the business community, and has notably held the position of director of the Carré des affaires FSA ULaval-Banque Nationale. He also serves on boards of directors of several organizations, including the Business Schools Association of Canada, the Collège des administrateurs de sociétés, Entrepreneuriat ULaval, the Université Laval Trade Missions, cégep François-Xavier Garneau and the Université Laval Rouge et Or soccer club.

Internationally recognized for the excellence of his research in the field of marketing, he has published several articles in prestigious journals such as the International Journal of Business Studies, the Journal of Consumer Psychology, the International Journal of Research in Marketing and the Journal of Service Research, and is a member of several editorial committees. He also heads the Observatoire international en management du sport, which brings the university community closer to the business of sports management through its various activities.

Highly skilled in explaining complex issues in simple terms, Frank Pons is a regular guest on local and international media to comment on various issues related to marketing and consumer behaviour.