STAFF PROFILE
Associate Professor Nirajan Shiwakoti
Dr Nirajan Shiwakoti is an expert in transport engineering. He conducts interdisciplinary research works in the area of the intelligent multi-modal transportation systems.
Dr Shiwakoti is a productive and passionate researcher and educator. He is a Chartered Professional Engineer (CPEng.) from Engineers Australia. He teaches in the area of the intelligent transport systems, sustainable transport systems and sustainable engineering practice and design. He is the program director of the sustainable systems engineering program at the School of Engineering.
Dr Shiwakoti has significant research experiences in the field of human factors engineering, adoption and deployment of connected and autonomous vehicles, crowd dynamics modelling, supply chain, safety analysis and evaluation and emergency services planning. He has over 100 journal and conference publications in these areas (refer to his Google Scholar Page). Prospective postgraduate students who wish to pursue his/her PhD or Masters research can contact Dr Shiwakoti for scholarship options.
Dr Shiwakoti is a key founding member of Cyber-Physical and Autonomous Systems (CPAS) research ground at RMIT and leads Intelligent Transport and Mobility Systems research theme at CPAS. He is also a member of Transport@RMIT group, Information and Systems Engineering and Urban Future Enabling Impact Platform (EIPs), Space and Spatial Capability Cluster (SASCCAR) and Centre for Cyber Security Research and Innovation (CCSRI) at RMIT University.
Dr Shiwakoti has been a recipient of several prestigious awards for his research work that includes Fresh Science Award, a fellowship from Australian Scholarship and Science (CASS) Foundation, a fellowship from 19th International Symposium on Transportation and Traffic Theory (ISTTT), University of California, Berkeley, USA, a fellowship from Australian Road Research Board (ARRB) and a fellowship from International Association of Traffic and Safety Sciences (IATSS), Japan. He has received many competitive grants including Australian Research Council-Linkage grant for his research.
Dr Shiwakoti is serving as a key executive member, Transportation Research Board (TRB) Standing Technical Committee on Transit Capacity and Quality of Service (AP015), US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, USA. He is also serving as the International Scientific Committee (ISC) member for the International Conference of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies (EASTS). He is an Editorial Board Member for several international journals such as Journal of Advanced Transportation, Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering, Sustainability journal, KES Journal: Innovation in Knowledge-based and Intelligent Engineering Systems Journal and The Open Transportation Journal. He is an assessor for the Australian Research Council (ARC) competitive grants since 2013 and has assessed many ARC discovery, ARC LIEF and ARC Linkage proposals.
Management
- Program Manager, Sustainable Systems Engineering (BH076) and its associated double degree on Business Management (BH092) and Industrial Design (BH100)
- Course Coordinator for Intelligent Transport Systems and Sustainable Transport Systems courses at postgraduate and undergraduate level.
Teaching
- AUTO 1929 / MIET2493 Intelligent Transport Systems
- AUTO 1928 / MIET2494 Sustainable Transport Systems
- OENG 1118 Sustainable Engineering Practice and Design
Research
- Urban Transportation Systems research team
- Masters and Doctoral research candidate supervision
- Doctor of Philosophy (Transport Engineering), Institute of Transport Studies (ITS), Monash University
- Master of Engineering (Urban and Environmental Engineering), Hokkaido University
- Bachelor Degree in Civil Engineering (Hons.) Tribuvan University
Employment history
- 2014-current, Senior Lecturer, RMIT University
- 2011-2014, Lecturer, Institute of Transport Studies, Monash University
- 2007-2010, Senior Tutor and Casual Lecturer, Department of Civil Engineering, Monash University
- 2003-2004, Civil Engineer, Development Network (P.) Ltd.
Industry collaboration
- Public Transport Victoria
- Department of Transport
- VicRoads
- Local Council
Professional interests and links to industry
- Contributing editor, Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering, Elsevier
- Committee member, US Transportation Research Board Committee on Transit Capacity and Quality of Service (AP015), Washington, D.C., USA
- International Scientific Committee member, 11th Eastern Asia Society for Transport Studies (EASTS) conference, Cebu, 2015
- Program Sub-committee member, 23rd Intelligent Transport Systems World Congress (ITSWC), Melbourne, 2016
- Assessor, Australian Research Council (ARC) competitive grants
- Reviewer of several transportation journals including Transportation Research Record, Physica A, Transportation Research Part C, Transportmetrica B, IET Intelligent Transport Systems, IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, Journal of Advanced Transportation
- Member, Engineers Australia (M.I.E.Aust.)
Awards/Scholarships
- 15th Fresh Science Award as well as "best presentation to public" from Fresh Science Community, 2012
- Travel fellowship for presenting a paper at 19th International Symposium of Transport and Traffic Theory, hosted by University of California, Berkeley, USA, 2011.
- Australian Road Research Board (ARRB)-Transport Research Prize for my PhD dissertation as a best research in transportation (2010). Also awarded with the special commendation certificate from Australian Road Research Board (ARRB) for the innovativeness of my research work (2009)
- Publication Award, Faculty of Engineering, Monash University (February – April, 2011)
- Monash Graduate Scholarship (MGS) and Monash International Postgraduate Research Scholarship (MIPRS) for PhD research, 2007-2010
- Travel fellowship from International Association of Traffic and Safety Sciences (IATSS), Japan for presenting a paper at 12th ISSOT symposium, 2007.
- Japanese Government Scholarship (Monbukagakusho) for Master Research (2004-2006)
- University full scholarship for Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering (1998-2002)
Media
- Research contributions featured in:
- National Geographic Chanel, USA, 2014
- Nautilus science magazine, USA, 2014
- NewScientist Science Magazine, UK, 2013
- Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Television, Australia, 2008
- Discovery Chanel Canada, 2008
- Rejali, S.,Aghabayk, K.,Esmaeli, S.,Shiwakoti, N. (2023). Comparison of technology acceptance model, theory of planned behavior, and unified theory of acceptance and use of technology to assess a priori acceptance of fully automated vehicles In: Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 168, 1 - 20
- Khan, S.,Shiwakoti, N.,Stasinopoulos, P.,Warren, M. (2023). A multinational empirical study of perceived cyber barriers to automated vehicles deployment In: Scientific Reports, 13, 1 - 12
- Rejali, S.,Aghabayk, K.,Shiwakoti, N. (2022). A Clustering Approach to Identify High-Risk Taxi Drivers Based on Self-Reported Driving Behavior In: Journal of Advanced Transportation, 2022, 1 - 16
- Zahraee, S.,Shiwakoti, N.,Stasinopoulos, P. (2022). Agricultural biomass supply chain resilience: COVID-19 outbreak vs. sustainability compliance, technological change, uncertainties, and policies In: Cleaner Logistics and Supply Chain, 4, 1 - 19
- Shi, X.,Xue, S.,Shiwakoti, N.,Li, D.,Ye, Z. (2022). Examining the effects of exit layout designs on children pedestrians’ exit choice In: Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 602, 1 - 14
- Chen, Y.,Shiwakoti, N.,Stasinopoulos, P.,Khan, S. (2022). State-of-the-Art of Factors Affecting the Adoption of Automated Vehicles In: Sustainability, 14, 1 - 29
- Waykole, S.,Shiwakoti, N.,Stasinopoulos, P. (2022). Performance Evaluation of Lane Detection and Tracking Algorithm Based on Learning-Based Approach for Autonomous Vehicle In: Sustainability, 14, 1 - 20
- Aghabayk, K.,Soltani, A.,Shiwakoti, N. (2022). Investigating Pedestrians’ Exit Choice with Incident Location Awareness in an Emergency in a Multi-Level Shopping Complex In: Sustainability, 14, 1 - 21
- Aghabayk, K.,Rejali, S.,Shiwakoti, N. (2022). The Role of Big Five Personality Traits in Explaining Pedestrian Anger Expression In: Sustainability, 14, 1 - 10
- Erinofiardi, E.,Koirala, R.,Shiwakoti, N.,Date, A. (2022). Sustainable Power Generation Using Archimedean Screw Turbine: Influence of Blade Number on Flow and Performance In: Sustainability, 14, 1 - 25
10 PhD Current Supervisions4 PhD Completions
- Australia’s trade and the threat of autonomous unmanned underwater vehicles. Funded by: Department of Defence Strategic Policy Grants 2022 onwards from (2022 to 2023)
- Consumer fridge behaviour and waste reduction of red meat. Funded by: Fight Food Waste CRC from (2021 to 2024)
- Development of a Simulation Tool for Adoption and Deployment of Autonomous Vehicles. Funded by: Automotive Engineering Graduate Program from (2019 to 2022)
- Decision Support Tool to Reduce Platform Hazards and Incidents. Funded by: Defence Science Institute Grant 2017 from (2017 to 2017)
- Development of a Novel Tool for Recoverability during Maritime Evacuation. Funded by: Defence Science Institute Grant 2017 from (2017 to 2017)