Irene Cobián

My current job is based on finding project opportunities and executing projects for Mobility Institute Berlin, a company that develops public transport strategies.

The knowledge that I gained during my ITS course has been a foundation to developing in the professional environment. Some of the knowledge I have even shared with my colleagues (e.g. Public Participation and Travel Behaviour), because these are super relevant topics in the transport world and people want to hear about them.

I did a lot of research to decide on the Masters course, and finally ITS was my preferred option because of the course’s content, the institute’s reputation and the fact that it was in Europe (closer to home than other candidates).

My advice to students interested in this course is that it’s a top choice, because studying at ITS provides you with a wide perspective on transport issues, it considers present global challenges (working with real life examples and practical cases) and also you get to be taught by some amazing professors (after being at ITS I have stumbled upon research papers relevant to my work and they happened to have been written by ITS professors!) Last but not least, at University of Leeds you get to meet people from all over the world, which is fantastic.

I absolutely recommend the ITS Employer Visits. The Employer Visits were how I got my first job! ITS organised orientation sessions and also alumni were very supportive with each other, everyone was open to share their thoughts and give advice.

I am proud of the fact that I have had the chance to work internationally, first being based in London and afterwards in Madrid, and have travelled to different places both in the UK and in South America. Also, I am really happy that I have been able to direct my career towards sustainable transport planning. I started off balancing my work between transport planning and due diligence for toll roads (not so sustainable). At some point I had a lot of experience in the latter, and it looked like I was going to be stuck in that work area, but I managed to turn it around and now I work in an area that I love, at Mobility Institute Berlin, trying to bring better mobility options to life

My advice to ITS international students who are seeking work in the transport sector is that a career in transport is a great way to make an impact in the world around us, especially from a sustainability perspective. The transport sector has a lot to improve and it needs proactive and conscious minds to help it change.