Transport PhD candidate Séverine Mar&eacutechal was awarded the SMEED prize at the recent University Transport Study Group (UTSG) Conference.

The prize recognises the best student paper and presentation at the Annual Conference of the UTSG, held in January. It is offered in honour of Reuben Smeed, who became the first professor of Traffic Studies at University College London in 1969. The UTSG's 48th Annual Conference, hosted by the University of the West of England and the University of Bristol, featured a total of 70 research presentations in the fields of transport, travel and mobility, and was attended by about 100 delegates from UK and Irish universities.

Séverine’s paper, "Modelling the acquisition and use of information sources during travel disruption", models how travellers acquire a bundle of information sources and use it for their travel decisions, especially during travel disruptions. The empirical analysis investigates the case of public transport commuters in the greater London area. This creative concept of introducing information in travel behaviour modelling brings this area of research to new horizons.

The second place was awarded to another Transport PhD student, Jianlin Luan, whose paper proposed a framework for optimising cooperation strategies for the local traffic authority and route guidance service providers based on a non-cooperative Nash game.

Both students are under the supervision of Professor Polak and Dr Sivakumar.

The above photo is credited to Bhagesh Sachania Photography.