Your 2027 research calendar should do more than fill your inbox with calls for papers. It should put you in the rooms where methods are tested, evidence meets policy and the next collaboration begins.
If I were planning a year around transport research, these are the events I would shortlist first.
1. 2027 TRB Annual Meeting
10-14 JANUARY 2027 | WASHINGTON, DC, USA
TRB is the natural opening move when you want range. Its multimodal programme brings research into the same conversation as engineering, planning, safety and policy. I would use the meeting to pressure-test a paper's relevance beyond one niche, find comparable work in other modes and meet people who can move evidence into practice.
2. RTR Conference 2027
23-24 FEBRUARY 2027 | BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
If your work touches road transport, European programmes or deployment, RTR offers a concentrated setting. The event presents results from EU-funded projects across automation, electromobility, safety, logistics and intelligent transport systems. You can compare methods across projects and see which findings are ready to travel from a consortium report into policy or operations.
3. Odysseus 2027
24-28 MAY 2027 | ARGOSTOLI, KEPHALONIA, GREECE
Odysseus is deliberately a workshop rather than a conventional conference, making it attractive when you value deep technical exchange. Vehicle routing, fleet management, network design, intermodal transport and data-driven logistics sit at its core. I would choose it for rigorous discussion, longer conversations and potential co-author connections in transport science and operations research.
Pro tip
Looking for a comprehensive guide to the top railway transport events of 2027? Check out the latest post on my blog for everything you need to know.
4. The 13th Young Researchers Seminar (YRS 2027)
2-4 JUNE 2027 | RIGA, LATVIA
Early-career researchers need feedback, not just a podium. YRS is designed around paper development, presentation practice and direct interaction with senior tutors, across transport economics, safety, mobility behaviour, digitalisation, logistics and infrastructure. If you are a PhD student or recent postdoc in an eligible member organisation, this could be the most formative event on your calendar.
5. EUCAD 2027
9-10 JUNE 2027 | BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
Connected and automated mobility needs engineers, policymakers, operators and researchers at the same table. EUCAD is built for that interface. I would attend to understand how evaluation methods, regulation, data sharing and deployment are converging - and to test whether your research question matches the decisions Europe is preparing to make.
6. CASPT & TRANSIT DATA 2027
21-24 JUNE 2027 | STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
Hosted at KTH, this joint gathering connects advanced public transport systems with research using passive transport data. That combination is unusually useful: you can move from methods and models to operations and real-world application without changing conferences. I would prioritise it for work on public-transport planning, operations and data-driven decision-making. You do not need all seven. Choose one broad meeting, one specialist venue and one event close to implementation. That mix gives you discovery, technical depth and impact - a stronger research year than collecting conference badges ever will.
7. MT-ITS 2027
16-18 JUNE 2027 | COPENHAGEN, DENMARK
The 10th International Conference on Models and Technologies for Intelligent Transportation Systems is the specialist stop for modelling and ITS technology.
MT-ITS sure has a focused audience, mainly interested in technological and technical aspects of transport research. A focused audience matters when you want serious scrutiny of assumptions, methods and validation. Put it on your list if your work turns data into models, control strategies or system-level decisions.
The bigger picture & Next steps for you
If you've reached this point, it means that by now you are already aware of several interesting conferences in the transport research domain. However, it is possible that you may have not found yet the one that convinced to click the "Register" button. No worries, I'll lay it out for you.
If you’re a PhD student, I would try the Young Researchers Seminar 2027. If you’re an early-career researcher seeking deeper technical feedback, consider Odysseus 2027. At mid-career level, RTR Conference 2027 or EUCAD 2027 can help connect your research with policy and deployment. If you’re a senior researcher building international collaborations, I would prioritise the 2027 TRB Annual Meeting.