The 11^th Young Researchers Seminar - YRS 2023 was successfully held on May 15^th -17^th, in Lisbon, Portugal. The Seminar brought together 33 young researchers from 14 countries, 16 tutors from 8 countries, along with delegates of 5 Transport Research Associations, creating opportunities to present research results, experience the process of research dissemination, exchange ideas on road, rail, maritime and multimodal transport issues, as well as fostering cooperation among its participants.

In the opening session, the Director of HIT Dr. E. Bekiaris addressed the audience on behalf of the EURNEX organization (the EUropean rail Research Network of EXcellence), as its President. Dr. Bekiaris presented EURNEX and its actions, and talked about the active and upcoming research projects of the Organization.

In the framework of the Conference, Dr. Bekiaris, together with E. Gaitanidou, Head of the "Road Safety & Security" Laboratory of HIT/CERTH and member of the Executive Board in FERSI (Forum of European Road Safety Research Institutes), as members of the YRS Steering Committee, acted also as evaluators of the presented research papers.

The 3 research papers that were awarded during YRS 2023, are:

• Daniel Sander, “Detecting latent relations within in-depth accident data using network graphs”.
• Kajsa Emanuelsson, Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI), “Differences in drivers’ attitudes and behavior towards ambulances and police vehicles”.
• Gabriel Stephan Himmelbauer, University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, “Conceptual design and evaluation of sensor technology for automatic uncoupling of railroad wagons”.

During the closing ceremony, Dr. Bekiaris had the honor to give the closing speech congratulating the participants for their excellent work.

The Young Researchers’ Seminar is organized bi-annually, with the support of ECTRI, FERSI, FERHL, HUMANIST and ΕURNEX.