Dr. Kelly Saunders is a renown gender and mobility specialist with 17 years’ experience working across public transport policy, contracts, design and operations in Australia and internationally. Kelly consults to major clients including the World Bank, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, Arup and SNCF to translate people’s transport needs into realisable initiatives, specifications and project outcomes. She has authored landmark publications including Travelling in a Woman’s Shoes (Ireland, 2020) and Applying a Gender Lens to TII Public Transport Projects (2021). Kelly was previously general counsel for Yarra Trams and a senior international lawyer for Keolis Group. She was Chair of the Women’s Leadership in Transport and Infrastructure Summit (2021-22). In 2025, Kelly was awarded a PhD in anthropology from the University of Canberra.
Selected publications or texts
- Saunders, K (2025) Doctoral Thesis, University of Canberra, Australi
- Saunders, K (2023) Co-author: Making Way for Women in Transport and Logistics: Promising Practices in Europe and Central Asia (worldbank.org)
- Kurshitashvili, N et al (2022) Ways to Green Mobility: Perspectives on women and rail in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia New York: World Bank: Paths Toward Green Mobility : Perspectives on Women and Rail Transport in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia (worldbank.org)
- Saunders, K (2021) Applying a Gender Lens to Transport Projects. Dublin: Transport Infrastructure Ireland: GE-GEN-01007 (tiipublications.ie)
- Saunders, K (2021) A change in perspective by walking in women’s shoes | BroadAgenda
- Cahill, R et al (2020) Travelling in a Woman’s Shoes – Understanding Women’s Travel Needs in Ireland to Inform the Future of Sustainable Transport Policy and Design. Dublin: Transport Infrastructure Ireland: TII-Travelling-in-a-Womans-Shoes-Report_Issue.pdf
- Mobility and Gender Sensitivity Goethe Institute (2020) (in French and German) at: https://www.goethe.de/ins/fr/fr/kul/dos/nhk/nms/21854408.html
- Saunders, K (2019) The Real Reason Mobility is Not Women Friendly (2019) attached at: Kelly Saunders | LinkedIn (Top five read articles UMD site 2019)
- Saunders, K (2019) Contributor for Transport Connectivity: A gender perspective OECD Publishing, Paris (pp 40-41): https://www.itf-oecd.org/sites/default/files/docs/transport-connectivity-gender-perspective.pdf
Selected speaking engagements
- Speaker, National Transport Conference, Australia (forthcoming), September 2026
- Guest, ABC Radio Canberra discussing caring third places with James Findlay, 9 April 2026
- Presenter, Anticipatory Infrastructures Symposium, Emerging Technologies Lab, Monash University, 2026
- Presenter, The Caring City at the Green Institute Conference, Griffith University, Brisbane, 2023
- Presenter, Gender and Planning Vibrant Cities, Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions (Melbourne, Victoria), 2022
- Presenter, Feminism, Law and Citizenship Conference, Sorbonne University, Paris, 2022
- Keynote speaker, Women, Transport and Public Space, ITS Australia Mobility Conference, 2021
- Chair, Australian Women’s Leadership in Transport and Infrastructure Summit, 2021, 2022
- Guest, The Female Traveller: The booming tourism sector France 24 TV (2019) (in English) at: https://www.france24.com/en/20191220-the-51-percent-the-female-traveller-a-booming-tourism-sector-risks-travel-gender-equality (see at 3.07 mins and 9.09 mins)