Elizabeth Box to Step Away from RAC Foundation Role to Expand Consultancy Work

After nearly two decades at the RAC Foundation, Research Director Dr Elizabeth Box has confirmed she will leave the organisation at the end of March.

Dr Box revealed the move on LinkedIn, explaining that she will now dedicate her time to ECM Research Solutions, the consultancy she established in 2023. Through this work, she intends to continue advising organisations on road safety strategy, focusing on policy design and evaluation rooted in behavioural science and evidence-led approaches.

Her departure marks the end of a significant chapter at the Foundation, where she played a central role in shaping research that has informed national debate on transport safety and policy. Throughout her tenure, Dr Box worked at the intersection of academic analysis and real-world application — a position she has previously described as acting as a conduit between research findings and practical decision-making.

Reflecting on her time at the Foundation, she said the role had been immensely rewarding, noting the organisation’s distinctive function within the transport landscape. The Foundation, she said, occupies an important space between data-driven research and the policymakers and practitioners responsible for implementing change.

Dr Box emphasised her longstanding belief that research must have practical impact.

“Research should guide action,” she wrote. “It shouldn’t just sit on a shelf.”

Her future work through ECM Research Solutions will continue to focus on ensuring that road safety interventions are both evidence-based and behaviourally informed, supporting public and private sector organisations seeking measurable outcomes.

Dr Box thanked colleagues and collaborators she has worked alongside during her time at the RAC Foundation and indicated she will share further details about her consultancy’s direction in the coming months.

The RAC Foundation has said it will announce plans to recruit a successor in due course.