Birds eye view of a ship carrying colourful red, blue, and teal shipping containers.

Upcoming events

29th Annual Fields on Wheels Conference - "Food Supply Chains: Taking Stock!"
Date: Wednesday, December 11, 2024
Time: 9:00 am - 4:30 pm CST
Attendance: Free
Venue: Online
Register here

Airships to Arctic conferences

  • Airship Corridors and Gateways to the Arctic

    Free Public Webinar

    Residents of remote communities in northern Canada often face monopoly services and high freight rates, which directly impacts the price and quality of everything from basic food to vital housing. Existing technology cannot alter the pattern of economic disparity between the highly developed southern Canada and the sparsely populated “thin” markets of the north. 

    A transformative change in the transportation service industry is required and low-cost cargo airship services are a conceivable answer. With widespread applications across national defense and industrial mining, a cargo airships market would lower expenses for all stakeholders, especially remote communities. 

    Over two-days, May 30 and 31st, the 2023 Airships to the Arctic webinar series presented speakers who elaborated on the demand for cargo airships in the North, leading airship developers and input suppliers.

Past events

28th Annual Fields on Wheels Conference - Post-pandemic Supply Chain Adjustments

More info


27th Fields on Wheels Conference - Supply Chain Risks, Disruptions and Adaptation

More info


December 14, 2021 - Fields on Wheels

The 26th Fields on Wheels Conference was themed "Congestion and Logistical Challenges in the Late-pandemic".

More info


December 11, 2020 - Fields on Wheels

In December, the Transport Institute and the Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Fields on Wheels Conference themed "Celebrating Achievement and Building Resilience in Agricultural Food Systems".

More info

Past UMTI Speaker Series

Dr. Clifford Winston - Autonomous Vehicle: Paving the Way to Economic Growth with Less Resistance. 

Dr. Mark Levine - Driverless Vehicle Technology & Changing Land Settlement Patterns

Dr. Karen Smilowitz - On the Use of Operations Research Methods for the Design of School Districts

Journal publications

Vision and strategic goals

Vision

  1. Be recognized as a leading institute that undertakes high quality scholarly research in transportation and logistics.
  2. Be recognized as a leading institute that plays a significant role in defining the future direction in transportation and logistics research.
  3. Be recognized as a leading institute of collaborative scholarly research of faculty members, researchers, and students in transportation and logistics.
  4. Be recognized as a leading institute that actively involves professional stakeholders into high quality scholarly research.
  5. Facilitate the transfer of knowledge and findings generated from such high quality research to the professional communities so as to solve real problems in policymaking and industries in transportation and logistics.
  6. Train graduate students to become competent scholarly researchers in transportation and logistics in Manitoba, Canada, and the world.
  7. Train policymakers and industrial practitioners in transportation and logistics.

Strategic goals

  1. Undertake high quality research and publish high quality scholarly works.
  2. Edit internationally well-recognized scholarly journals and scholarly book series.
  3. Actively work and collaborative between faculty members, researchers, and students in high quality research.
  4. Organize scholarly conferences on transportation and logistics.
  5. Actively involve in the supervision and training of graduate students.
  6. Organize the Certificate in Logistics (C-Log) Program, a well-recognized professional program that has been offered by UMTI since 1997.

Faculty and staff

Associates
 

Paul Earl
Ron McLachlin
Al Phillips
Ed Tyrchniewicz
Luming Wang
John Wilms

Advisory Committee

Chairman
Bruno Silvestre

Members
Srimantoorao S. Appadoo
Barry Prentice
Gary Stern
Kelsey Taylor
Paul Larson
Yuvraj Gajpal

 

Past UMTI directors

  • Acting Asper School of Business Dean, Bruno Silvestre, wearing a black suit leaning on a railing and smiling.

    Dr. Bruno Silvestre (2011 - 2021)

  • Dr. Bruno Silvestre is the Dean of the Asper School of Business and CPA Manitoba Chair in Business Leadership. He served as the Director of the University of Manitoba Transport Institute from 2011 to 2021.

    Prior to his role as Dean, he served as the Associate Dean of Strategic Partnerships & Administration and the Acting Associate Dean of Professional Graduate Programs at the Asper School of Business. While at Asper, Dr. Silvestre also spearheaded the Master of Supply Chain Management and Logistics program that launched with its first cohort of students in fall 2021.

    Before his University of Manitoba appointment, Dr. Silvestre worked as an Associate Professor and the Chancellor’s Research Chair in Sustainable Supply Chain & Innovation Management in the Faculty of Business and Economics at the University of Winnipeg. Dr. Silvestre also worked at the Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University and at the Science and Policy Research Unit at the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom.

  • Dr. Silvestre’s research has been widely cited and has become internationally recognized for its practical relevance related to how supply chains can incorporate innovations and sustainability into their business processes to enhance operational, financial, environmental and social performance. Dr. Silvestre has taught extensively in the areas of operations management, supply chain management and sustainability at all levels at top schools in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Israel.


 

  • Paul D Larson

    Paul D Larson (2005 - 2011)

  • Paul D. Larson, Ph.D. served as the Director of the University of Manitoba Transport Institute (UMTI) from 2005 to 2011, while also serving as Head of the Supply Chain Management (SCM) Department.  As Director of UMTI, Larson was principal investigator on a five-year (2005-2010) $1 million research contract with Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation (MIT).  Paul was also the principal investigator and co-author of a 2008 report titled “Food Supply in Manitoba during a Pandemic,” supported by a $198,500 research contract with Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives (MAFRI).  The MAFRI project was led by the late Dr. Allister Hickson.  

  • In addition, Larson organized and hosted (with Jairo Viáfara) the Future of Trucking Symposium, held February 17-19, 2010; and organized and hosted five annual “Supply Chain Connections” conferences (2006-2010), as well as three “Manitoba Outlook on Transportation” events (2008-2010). While serving as UMTI Director and SCM Department Head, Larson also managed and contributed content for the Department’s $300,000 curriculum creation contract with the Purchasing Management Association of Canada (PMAC), which was recently renamed as Supply Chain Canada.  Pandemic planning and response, sustainable transportation and green trucking remain among Dr. Larson’s research interests. 


 

  • Picture of Professor Barry Prentice wearing a grey suit with yellow tie. He looks dapper and happy as always

    Barry E. Prentice (1996 - 2005)

  • Dr. Barry E. Prentice was the third Director of the Transport Institute, from 1996 to 2005. During this period the activities of the Transport Institute expanded to include the Certificate in Logistics (C.Log.) program, an extensive research and an active outreach program. The Annual Fields on Wheels conference was founded that is now in its 26th year. Dr. Prentice had a goal of beginning an undergraduate teaching program in Transportation and Logistics. This was achieved in 2005 when the Transport Institute was shifted from an independent body reporting through the Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences, to become part of the I.H. Asper School of Business.

  • A new Department of Supply Chain Management was created, which included four new academic positions provided by the Province of Manitoba, and a Chair in Sustainable Transportation gifted by CN Rail.


 

  • Ed Tyrchniewicz

    Ed Tyrchniewicz (1984 - 1988)

  • Trained as an Agricultural Economist (PhD – Purdue University), Dr Ed Tyrchniewicz has worked in Universities for more than 50 years with 25 of those years being in various academic administrative positions. While at the University of Manitoba ((1967-88), he was a Professor of Agricultural Economics, Head of the Department of Agricultural Economics, and Founding Director of the Transport Institute. He then served as Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry at the University of Alberta (1988-96).

    Since taking early retirement from the University of Alberta in 1997, he has held a variety of appointments, including Senior Fellow at the International Institute for Sustainable Development (1996-99) and founding Executive Director of the Manitoba Rural Adaptation Council (1997).

  • He joined the Asper School of Business in 2003, and served as the first Head of the Department of Supply Chain Management. He served as Associate Dean of the Asper School of Business at the University of Manitoba until June 2008. Ed was appointed a Senior Scholar in the Department of Agribusiness at the University of Manitoba in July 2008.

    Ed has been involved in consulting and public service advising in the areas of agricultural and transportation policy, natural resource management, and organizational management and capacity building.   

Contact us

University of Manitoba Transport Institute
Room 631 Drake Centre
181 Freedman Cres.
University of Manitoba (Fort Garry Campus)
Winnipeg, MB R3T 5V4
Canada

204-474-8377
431-373-9976