Ofelia Betancor

I am an Associate Professor in Economics at the Department of Applied Economics at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain). I have also some administrative responsibilities at the department, where I act as a secretary. I started working at this university in 1989, and since then I been teaching micro and macroeconomic courses at different levels. During this time I received my first PhD in economics from this university (1998), followed by my PhD with ITS in 2011.

My main research interest is air transport, and have also participated in several European projects (PETS, UNITE, SPECTRUM, INTERREG, HEATCO, AIRREG, DIFFERENT, I-C-EU). Most of these projects were led by ITS. It was a great pleasure for me to work on these projects. They gave me the opportunity to learn from many people working at ITS, and in particular from my main supervisor Professor Chris Nash. I am also the Director of Research of the “Economics of Infrastructure and Transport Group” at the University of Las Palmas, and I am also leading the research in Transport Economics at the FEDEA-Abertis Chair in Madrid.

I would say that my experience at ITS helped my present jobs although my situation is somehow different from the average student. I was already a doctor when I decided to take a second PhD at ITS. I decided to do so as a part-time challenge and as a result of previous research work that I did on externalities in air transport markets. My initial thought was that perhaps it was worth trying to give a comprehensive view of this issue. I think this was not only a challenge but also a great opportunity to keep in touch and continue working with excellent researchers from ITS. I am sure this has greatly contributed to improving my research opportunities.

I chose ITS and Leeds University for my PhD as I was already working with ITS’s researchers before-hand and it was this previous experience what made me do so.

My advice to students interested in taking a PhD at ITS would be that taking a PhD is not an easy decision. You should be sure about what area of research you wish to get into, in addition, you will need funding and probably be away from your family for a long period of time. Nevertheless, I think the effort is worth it: you will learn not only about a particular academic topic that will contribute to building a better future for you, you will also learn about human values like friendship, loyalty and respect for others work.