Systemic gender bias in transportation research: recommendations for change

• Four themes: culture, trust, methods, and visibility drive inequities. • Inclusive practices often penalise researchers without structural support. • Funders, institutions, and policymakers must mandate gender equity. • Embedding inclusivity improves research quality and societal impact. Gender bias has long shaped transport systems, leading to unsafe, exclusionary, and poorly tailored services for women. While transport outcomes have been widely studied, little attention has been given to the research practices that produce these biased findings. This study provides the first critical examination of how gender imbalance is embedded within transport research practice itself. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 experienced transport researchers from the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, and analysed using a rigorous thematic analysis. Four core themes emerged: research culture, trust in institutions, research methods, and visibility. Together, these reveal how current norms in transport research often disadvantage inclusive practice, whether by prioritising participant numbers over diversity, relying on methods that inadvertently exclude women, or failing to build trust with under-represented groups. The findings demonstrate that systemic change is required: inclusive practices must be supported by institutions, normalised through training and peer-review processes, and incentivised in funding calls. By exposing the cultural and methodological mechanisms through which gender bias is reproduced, this study offers concrete recommendations to improve recruitment, analysis, and dissemination practices. It provides a foundation for reshaping research culture towards more equitable and inclusive transport systems.