Wales 1st International Conference on Urban Air Mobility 2026
People, Innovation, and Sustainability in Future Air Mobility
The confernece certificate is now available. Please click on this link to download it!
We sincerely invite you to submit your article to the Special Issue: Sustainable Urban Air Mobility and Intelligent Transport Systems, published in Urban Science (ISSN 2413-8851, Impact Factor 3.2).
Date: 8th Sept 2026 (Tuesday)
Time: 9:30 (BST, Cardiff) | 16:30 (CST Asia, Beijing)
| Time | Speaker | Title |
| 9:30-10:00 | Networking and refreshment | |
| 10:00-10:15 | Holly Evans | Open speech |
| 10:15-10:20 | Group Photo | |
| 10:20-10:50 | Prof. Ken Peattie Keynote Speaker |
Urban Air Mobility Services – The Customer Acceptance Conundrum |
| 10:50-11:10 | Benjamin Gwalchmai Keynote Speaker |
The Innovative, Resilient Aerospace Business – in this ecosystem? On this planet?' |
| 11:10-11:30 | Simon Read Keynote Speaker |
Digital Transformation Lessons for Urban Air Mobility: Why Technology Is Only Part of the Challenge |
| 11:30-11:50 | Tea Break | |
| 11:50-12:10 | Naveen Madhavan Keynote Speaker |
A Value-Based Framework to Integrate Drone Technology with Healthcare in Wales |
| 12:10-12:45 | Mohamed Mohamed Selected Speaker |
Computational Analysis of Single Ducted Propeller for Hovering eVTOL Vehicle using Passive Flow Control |
| 12:45-14:20 | Lunch | |
| 14:20-15:30 | Alex Lancaster and Marko Todorovic MDPI |
MDPI Urban Science Academic Publishing Workshop |
| 15:30-15:50 | Tea Break | |
| 15:50-16:10 | Rizwaan Ghodiwala Selected Speaker |
Numerical Analysis on the Effect of Spiroid Winglet Devices on the Aerodynamic Performance of Unmanned Air Vehicles |
| 16:10-16:30 | Utkarsh Patil Selected Speaker |
Aerodynamic Performance of a Cranked Flying Wing Autonomous Air Vehicle Fitted with Blerak Winglet |
| 16:30-17:00 | Closing Remark | |
Date: 9th Sept 2026 (Wednesday)
Time: 9:00 (BST, Cardiff) | 16:00 (CST Asia, Beijing)
| 9:00-9:20 | Opening Speech Prof. Martin Steggall |
|||
| Parallel Session 1 | Title | Parallel Session 2 | Title | |
| Mohamed Mohamed Session Chair |
Ruikai Sun Session Chair Shaoting Wen Co-chair |
|||
| 9:20-9:40 | Kareem Aboshama Selected Speaker |
Retrofit or Rebuild? Rethinking Low-Carbon Vertiport Infrastructure for Future Cities | Xushen Zhao Selected Speaker |
Low-Altitude Emergency Medical Rescue for Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury: Exploring the Role of Urban Air Mobility in Time-Critical Care Pathways |
| 9:40-10:00 | Elia Shayegani Akmal Selected Speaker |
A Federated, Explainable Predictive-Maintenance Framework for Urban Air Mobility Fleets Under Sparse Failure Data | Yunling Wang Selected Speaker |
Decentralised Water Recycling and Life Cycle Assessment of Vertiport Infrastructure for Urban Air Mobility |
| 10:00-10:20 | Ethan Dade Selected Speaker |
Numerical analysis of multiple-tipped winglet designs for enhancing aerodynamic efficiency on a cranked flying-wing UCAV | Zijun Yan Selected Speaker |
AI-Enabled Demand Forecasting and Fleet Repositioning for Urban Air Mobility in the Low-Altitude Economy: A Synthetic Proof-of-Concept Study |
| 10:20-10:40 | Andres Felipe Olarte Pena Selected Speaker |
Route Priorities Depend on the Ground Alternative: A Robustness Audit of Advanced Air Mobility Routes in and around South Wales | Chenhao Zhao Selected Speaker |
Low-Altitude Medical Transport for Blood Samples: Exploring the Role of Urban Air Mobility in Time-Critical Diagnostic Pathways |
| 10:40-11:00 | Elijah Ige Selected Speaker |
Aerodynamic Performance of Flying-Wing Unmanned Air Vehicle using Blended Split Winglet Device | Huangyu Shen Selected Speaker |
An Immersive Virtual Reality Training Framework for Urban Air Mobility Ground Remote Operators |
| 11:00-11:20 | Atasy Roy Selected Speaker |
AI-Based Demand Prediction and Dynamic Route Optimization for Urban Air Mobility (UAM) Services | Dan Zhang and Kening Liu Selected Speaker |
A Game-Theoretic Analysis of Manufacturer Innovation and Operator Store Brand Introduction in Urban Air Mobility Supply Chains |
| 11:20-11:40 | Mahendra Samarawickrama Selected Speaker |
Designing Smart City Strategies for Sustainable Urban Air Mobility Through Grid, Ground, and Governance Readiness in Developed and Developing Countries | ||
| 11:40-12:00 | Doan Le Selected Speaker |
Design, Manufacture, Assembly and Testing of an eVTOL Vehicle for Light UAM Applications | ||
|
|
|
 |
Dr. Jie Wang Intelligent Energy Innovation College, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (上海交通大学), Shanghai, China
|
|
|
We’re excited to invite you to the WIC 2026 — offered in both in-person and online formats to make participation as flexible and welcoming as possible!
• Tuesday, 8 September 2026: Join us in person at Cardiff
• Wednesday, 9 September 2026: Connect with us online via Zoom
Once your abstract is accepted, we’ll send a confirmation email to help you choose your preferred way of attendance — whether you’d like to attend onsite or join virtually. Please keep an eye on your inbox (and spam folder, just in case!) — we’ll be happy to assist if you have any questions along the way.
Instructions for authors are available online.
Submit your abstracts HERE.
Registration for free HERE.
For any inquiries, please contact us at wic2026@mdpi.com
🏨 voco St. David's Cardiff by IHG
🌏 Havannah Street, Cardiff, CF10 5SD
📍 (Get location on Google Maps)
the chair
On behalf of the organising committee, it is our great pleasure to welcome you to the Wales International Conference on Urban Air Mobility 2026, hosted by the University of South Wales in Cardiff.
As emerging air mobility technologies continue to develop, Urban Air Mobility is becoming far more than a technical aviation issue. It is increasingly a multidisciplinary challenge involving innovation, sustainability, regulation, business models, infrastructure, workforce transformation, public acceptance, and regional development. This conference has been established to provide a platform for bringing these perspectives together in a meaningful and constructive way.
Under the theme “People, Innovation, Sustainability: Building the Business of Future Air Mobility,” the conference aims to foster dialogue between academia, industry, policymakers, and wider stakeholders on how future air mobility can be developed responsibly and effectively in Wales, the UK, and beyond.
The conference will adopt a hybrid format, combining an in-person event in Cardiff with online academic sessions, to encourage both direct engagement and broad international participation. Through keynote speeches, academic discussions, industry dialogue, and publication opportunities, we hope this event will stimulate new ideas, build lasting collaborations, and contribute to the advancement of sustainable urban air mobility research and practice.
We are sincerely grateful for your interest, support, and participation. We very much look forward to welcoming you to this exciting event and to sharing inspiring conversations on the future of air mobility.
With best wishes,
Dr. Tiansheng Yang
Conference Chair
South Wales Business School, University of South Wales, Cardiff, UK
Editorial Board Member, Urban Science
Guest Editor, Journal of Urban Science Special Issue on Sustainable Urban Air Mobility and Intelligent Transport Systems
Meet Our Chair
South Wales Business School, University of South Wales, Cardiff, UK;Editorial Board Member, Urban Science;
Important Dates
20 Aug
2026
27 Aug
2026
7 Sep
2026
