Dr Dilum Dissanayake
Lecturer in Transport Modelling

  • Email: dilum.dissanayake@ncl.ac.uk
  • Telephone: +44 (0) 191 222 5718
  • Fax: +44 (0) 191 222 6502
  • Address: School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences
    Room 2.19
    Cassie Building
    Newcastle University
    Newcastle upon Tyne
    NE1 7RU
    UK

Background

Dr Dilum Dissanayake was appointed as a lecturer in transport modelling in the School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences in September 2004. Dr Dissanayake’s research interests including travel behaviour analysis, travel demand modelling and forecasting have enriching her understanding of public response to transport policies that includes Road User Charging (RUC), transit subsidy, telecommuting, land use planning, integrated transport) and exploring interrelations between transport and environment, transport and land use, and transport and sustainability.

The novelty of Dissanayake’s research was the use of different data sources [Revealed Preference (RP), Stated Preference (SP) and combined RP and SP] to develop travel demand models [Multinomial Logit (MNL) and Nested Logit (NL) models] to create a fundamental understanding of and enable the replication of household-based travel decisions within a single frameworks. This provides mechanisms to allow the interactions of the various decisions of the individuals in the household to be modelled with sufficient accuracy to enable travel behaviour responses to transport policies to be investigated. Dr Dissanayake has established herself as an independent researcher through successful application of the modelling approach in developing countries to RUC. In 2005, Dr Dissanayake received the ICRA research award from the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies (EASTS) to conduct a research project (2005-07) that investigated the social attitudes to road casualty reduction in Southeast Asian Countries of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. This project was the first application of Discrete Choice Modelling (DCM) approach in analysing travellers’ Willingness-to-pay (WTP) for road casualty reduction in Asia. More recently, she conducted research to investigate driver behaviour and attitudes to RUC considering new toll motorway in Greece as a case study [Dissanayake and Kouli, 2007] and a project (DICE-Discrete Choice Modelling Applications for Travel Demand in the UK Cities) funded by Newcastle University.

Dr Dissanayake is a member of the UTSG (University Transport Study Group) Executive Committee (2007-2009), a Reviewer in Chief of the EASTS Journal (Travel Demand Analysis Group), and a peer reviewer of number of international journals (Transportation Research Record, Transportation, ASCE Transportation Engineering, Public Works Management and Policy), and conferences (WCTR, TRB Annual Meeting, EASTS Conference). Dr Dissanayake has received Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE) awards in 2000 and 2002 for her excellent research outputs. Dr Dissanayake gained research experience with industry and academia in Japan, Thailand, and Sri Lanka in the last 16 years.

Roles and Responsibilities

Deputy Degree Programme Director - MSc Transport Programmes, Undergraduate and Postgraduate Tutor,
Member of the School Teaching and Learning Committee (STLC),
Member of the Resources Subgroup of STLC,
Member of the Undergraduate BoE,
Member of the Postgraduate BoE and BoS,
Undergraduate Induction trip activities,
Open day activities,
Academic member - Engineering Education Scheme (EES),
Acted as an interpreter for Japanese delegation visited Transport Operations Research Group in May 2005,
Postgraduate seminar related activities.

Qualifications

PhD (Transport Planning), Nagoya University, Japan (2001)
Thesis Title: Urban Transport Policy Analysis for Developing Countries Considering Household Choices of Modes, Trip-Chaining and Vehicle Ownership.

MEng (Infrastructure Plann. and Magt), Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand (1997)
Thesis Title: Management of Routine and Periodic Maintenance for Highway Pavements.
Thesis Grade: Excellent.

BSc (Hons) (Civil Engineering), Uni. of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka (1991)
Undergraduate Project: Productivity Study on Brickwork in Sri Lanka.
Thesis Grade: Distinction.

Diploma in Programming, Ins. of Data Management Computer Studies, Sri Lanka (1989)
Grade: Distinction.

Previous Positions

Senior Lecturer, Dept of Civil and Env. Eng., University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka (2004).
Postdoctoral Researcher, Grad. Sch. of Env. Studies, Nagoya Uni., Japan (2001-03).
Doctoral Student, Dept of Civil Eng., Nagoya University, Japan (1998-2001).
Teaching Assistant (part time), Urban Plann Research Centre, Nagoya Uni., Japan (2000).
Lecturer, Dept of Civil Engineering, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka (1998).
Lecturer/Senior Consulting Engineer, Stellar Tech, Tangalle, Sri Lanka (1997-98).
Master Student, School of Civil Eng., Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand (1995-97).
Civil Engineer, Thai Leighton Limited, Thailand (1992-1994)
Research Assistant, School of Civil Eng., Asian Ins. of Technology, Thailand (1991-92).

Memberships

FHEA - Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2009~)
Member of IATBR (International Association of Travel Behaviour Research)(2006~)
Member of EASTS (Eastern Asia Society of Transportation Studies) (2000~)
Member of JSCE (Japan Society of Civil Engineers) (1999~)

Honours and Awards

ICRA-EASTS Award for the Best Research Proposal (2004-2007) on Interegional Valuation of Transport Safety in Asian Cities.

Award of Excellence for the Best Research Paper and the Presentation, Urban Planning and Transportation Session, Fourth International Summer Symposium, JSCE (Japan Society of Civil Engineers), 2002.

Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Fellowship to pursue Postdoctoral research at Nagoya University, 2001- 2003.

ICRA-EASTS Award for the Best Research Proposal (2001-2004) prepared on behalf of Prof Takayuki Morikawa.

Award of Excellence for the Best Research Paper and the Presentation, Urban Planning and Transportation Session, Second International Summer Symposium, JSCE (Japan Society of Civil Engineers), 2000.

Japanese Government Scholarship to pursue Doctoral Degree at Nagoya University, 1998-2001.

Japanese Government Scholarship to pursue Master Degree at Asian Institute of Technology, 1995-1997.

Award for the Best Civil Engineering In-plant Trainee, University of Moratuwa, 1987.

Languages

Sinhala
Japanese
English

RESEARCH INTERESTS

My research focuses on:

  • Infrastrctre engineering and planning
  • Travel behaviour analysis
  • Travel demand modelling and forecasting
  • Investigating travel behaviour change
  • Investigation of transport policies (transit subsidy, congestion pricing, telecommuting, land use planning)
  • Traffic incident management
  • Transport safety (valuation, child pedestrians, Willingness to pay)
  • Transport and the environment
  • Transport and land use
  • Vehicle ownership modelling and forecasting
  • Planning and management of highway pavements.

POSTGRADUATE SUPERVISION AND EXAMINATION

  • Sykes P. (2nd Supervisor, from Feb’11), Transport Modelling
  • Hammoudi A. (Main Supervisor, from Sept'10), Transport Safety
  • Yosritzal (Main Supervisor, from Sept'09), Travel Behaviour
  • Alkaabi A. (Main Supervisor, from Oct'07), Traffic Incident Management - submitted
  • Widyastuti H. (Main supervisor, from Nov'07), Transport Safety - compleletd
  • Zhang B. (Main Supervisor, from Nov'05), Transport & Environment - submitted
  • Wedagama P. (Internal Examiner -PhD Viva held in June 2005)

ESTEEM INDICATORS

  • Bridge fellowship, JSPS, 2012
  • Chief Reviewer, Committee on Travel Behaviour analysis and Forecast, Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies (EASTS)
  • Expert Reviewer, African Development Bank
  • RAENG Travel Grant to participate the TRB Meeting, 2007.
  • Member of the International Scientific Committee (ISC) at Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies (EASTS)
  • Member of IATBR (International Association of Travel Behaviour Research)
  • External Course Assessor, MBA, University of Sunderland
  • Reviewer, Committee on Transport in Developing Countries, WCTR Conference
  • Reviewer, Committee on Transport in Developing Countries, TRB, Washington DC.
  • Reviewer, Committee on Travel Behaviour and Values-ADB10, TRB, Washington DC.
  • ICRA Award to the project titled "Inter-regional Valuation of Transport Safety in Asian Cities", First Prize (2004~2007).
  • Reviewer, Committee on Environmental Concerns-A1F00, TRB, Washington DC.
  • Reviewer, Committee on Transportation Strategies Towards Mobility and Communities, ISSOT (International Student Seminar on Transport Research), Chiba, Japan.
  • Award of Excellence for the Best Research Paper and the Presentation, Urban Planning and Transportation Session, Fourth International Summer Symposium, JSCE (Japan Society of Civil Engineers), 2002.
  • Member of the EASTS Research project titled "Travel Behavior Analysis and its Implication to Urban Transport Planning for Asian Countries", (2001-2003).
  • Member of the Steering Committee, Chair of the Program Committee & a Session Chair (Transportation Strategies towards Mobility and Communities) of ISSOT’02 Symposium, Transportation Strategies in Asian Cities, Chiba, Japan (2002).
  • Award of Excellence for the Best Research Paper and the Presentation, Urban Planning and Transportation Session, Second International Summer Symposium, JSCE (Japan Society of Civil Engineers), 2000.
  • Member of EASTS (Eastern Asia Society of Transportation Studies) (2000-)
  • Member of JSCE (Japan Society of Civil Engineers) (1999-2003)
  • Editorial works, Ninth Asian Regional Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Bangkok, Thailand (1991).

FUNDING 

Catherine Cookson Foundation (2005-2006)
ICRA Research Fund (2004-2007)

Undergraduate Teaching

-        Computational Engineering Analysis (CEG3305, 20 credits)

-        Undergraduate Dissertation Projects – Civil Eng.(CEG8099; 30 credits)

-        Construction Management (CEG3002; Module administrator; 10 credits)

-        Professional Practice (CEG3703; Module administrator; 10 credits)

-        Project Management (CEG8002; Module administrator; 20 credits)

Postgraduate Teaching

-        Transport Modelling (CEG8407, Module Leader; 10 credits)

-        Transport Planning for Sustainable Development (CEG8415; Module Leader; 10 credits)

-        Characteristics of Public Transport Systems (CEG8412; 10 credits)

-        Postgraduate Dissertation Projects – Transport (CEG8499; Module leader, 80 credits)