Sittha Jaensirisak

I am currently an Assistant Professor in Transport Engineering in the Civil Engineering Department at Ubon Ratchathani University (Thailand). My main responsibilities are teaching undergraduate level, supervising Masters and PhD thesis, and doing research. I have also been involved in many transport planning projects; for example: prediction of travel demand on a new motorway; feasibility study of high speed rail; planning for the bus rapid transit (BRT) system; estimation of values of travel time; traffic impact assessment of land development; development of integrated transport and land use modelling for Bangkok; development of national freight modelling for Thailand; transport master plans for provincial cities; and non-motorised transport planning. I wouldn’t have done these works without training from ITS.

Overall, learning about transport planning in ITS has been very useful for my work. A most useful tool for me is the SP technique. The other useful activities in ITS were the regular seminars (almost every week). This provided a wide range of topics. Speakers were from both internal (staff and PhD students) and external companies. Apart from learning new knowledge, the seminars also provided other aspects to learn; for example presentations, discussions, and criticism.

I chose my ITS course and Leeds University because at that time I wanted to learn about road pricing, so I chose to do my thesis with Professor Tony May on road pricing, as well as Professor Mark Wardman who guided me on the SP technique.

My advice to students interested in this course is that ITS has a number of professors and staff who can provide very useful suggestions. The university provides various training courses relating to both academic and non-academic. Leeds is a livable city and in a good position to travel further to explore the UK and Europe.