Peter O'Neill

Chief, Transport Policy and Development, UN ESCAP

Peter O’Neill is currently leading transport policy and development for the UN regional office for Asia and Pacific. Focus of the work is PPP, regional connectivity, rural and urban transport that is a contributor to sustainable development. Previously, Lead Infrastructure Specialist at the World Bank’s Transport, Water and ICT Department based in Washington DC, where he led the rural transport and transport data groups in the World Bank and was responsible for transport policy with special responsibilities in sustainable development, private sector engagement, performance based contracting, the results and impact agenda and knowledge management. He was formerly Deputy Head of Knowledge and Research at the UK government’s Department for International Development with responsibility for the science and technology component and managed a budget of over GBP100m. A chartered civil and structural engineer by background he has held senior posts in infrastructure design and implementation both in the less developed and more developed world. His main areas of expertise are in transport innovation, sustainable transport methodologies, private sector engagement, and getting research outputs into practice alongside planning and implementation of rural access projects. He is a Member of the UK Institution of Civil Engineers and a member of the UK’s Royal Society’s Foundation for Science and Technology. He is a former chairman of the global Transport Knowledge Network, (gTKP). He has previously led on the development of a UK funders-forum for international development research and previously was the Director of the European Commission co-ordination program for international development research in the water and sanitation sector. He is a former Vice-Chairman of the Global Road Safety Partnership