TRANSLINK Project:- Transportation Research Links between EU and Asia for Sustainable Development

Tri Tjahjono, Karl Bang, Nicholas Marler and Sabariah Mohamad (2007) Transportation Research Links between EU and Asia for Sustainable Development (TRANSLINK) Proceeding of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies Vol.6, [pdf]
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OBJECTIVE

The overall objective of the three-year action (2006-2008) is to promote sustainable urban development in Indonesia and Malaysia by human resource development of transportation research staff and supervisors at two major Asian universities (University of Indonesia, Department of Civil Engineering (UI), Indonesia and Universti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia Institute of Transport, Malaysia) organised by two leading European universities (Royal Institute of Technology, Department of Infrastructure,(KTH), Sweden; and Institute for Transport Studies (ITS), University of Leeds, UK.

The specific objectives of the action is to develop a lasting capability of the involved Asian universities to carry out recognised research education and training programmes at the Ph.D. level related to the complex transportation and urban problems in their region. The results obtained on this level can also be utilised to strengthen the corresponding educational programmes on MSc level of the partner universities. Furthermore the project aims include establishment of long-term links between Europe and Asia represented by two leading universities from each region. It will also facilitate access to higher education in Europe, and increase the capability of universities in EU countries to deal with transportation research issues relevant for developing Asian regions.

The means to achieve the specific objectives include Human resource development:

Definition of need, demand and requirements for Human Resource Development (HRD) in transportation research methodology and research supervision;

guidelines and short courses for research trainers in thesis supervision;

short courses for Ph.D. students in research methodology and thesis writing;

funding of two Ph.D. students from each Asian partner for study visits at ITS and KTH.

Support of the development for Asian Ph.D. programmes with the aim to help establishing UI and MARA as Asian hubs of transport research and education through: - organisation of Transportation Research Schools and Transportation Centres; - development of guidelines for academic procedures, staff structure and responsibilities - exploration of institutional bottlenecks as well as funding and financial set-up.

Creating lasting transport research links through the promotion of an EU – Asia network for transport research and education including:

regional high level scientific co-operation.

pooling of specific expertise from the contributing higher education institutions;

mutual recognition of study programmes at Ph.D. level;

networking between European universities and Southeast Asian universities;

facilitation for Asian research students to carry out part of their research in Europe and accessing the IT, software and library facilities of their European counterparts.

• Contract beneficiary and coordinator:

1. Department of Transport and Economics (earlier Department of Infrastructure)

Royal Institute of Technology (KTH, Stockholm, Sweden

Teknikringen 72, 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden

Contact: Karl L. Bång, professor, tel +46-87908005, fax +46-8212899,

mail karl.bang@infra.kth.se

2. Institute for Transport Studies, The University of Leeds

Leeds, LS2 9JT United Kingdom

Contact: Miles Tight, Assoc. Prof, tel +44-113-3435350,

email mtight@its.leed.ac.uk

3. Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Indonesia

Kampus U.I., Depok 16424, Indonesia

Contact: Ellen S.W. Tangkudung tel +62-21-7270029, fax +62-21-7270028,

mail ellen@eng.ui.ac.id

4. Malaysia Institute of Transport (MITRANS), Universiti Teknologi MARA

40450 Shah Alam, Selangor Malaysia

Contact: Assoc. Prof. Sabariah Mohamad, 603-55442341

sabariahm@salam.uitm.edu.my