Sara Moridpour

Dr Sara Mordipour is an expert in transport engineering. She is an internationally recognised leader in transport modelling, infrastructure management, and traffic safety. Her research has advanced AI and machine learning applications in transport system modelling, driving behaviour prediction, traffic safety analysis, and transport infrastructure management.

 

Awards

 

   Leadership Awards and Scholarships

 

• Veski Inspiring Women in STEM Sidebyside Leadership Award, 2023
• The School of Engineering at RMIT University Leadership Award, 2021
• Position for Wattle Program for Academic Leaders, 2021
• Scholarship for the Advanced Leadership Program for Higher Education, 2018
• The Executive Ready Leadership Scholarship for Women, 2016

 

   Teaching Awards

 

• The Executive Dean’s Teaching Excellence Award for the Greatest Teaching Practice Innovation, 2020
• The School of Engineering at RMIT University Teaching Award for the Highest Teaching Performance, 2019
• The RMIT University Teaching Award of Early Career Academics (Higher Education), 2012

 

   Research Awards

 

• The Article of the Year Award, Journal of Advanced Transportation, 2022
• The School of Engineering at RMIT University, Higher Degree by Research (HDR) Supervision Award for Outstanding HDR Supervision, 2019
• The Best Paper Award from the 19th International Conference on Transportation Networks and Transportation Engineering, Tokyo, Japan, 2017
• The Institute of Transportation Engineers Rising Star Award for Australia and New Zealand, 2016
• The Transportation Research Board (TRB) Pedestrian Committee (ANF10) Best Paper Award, 2016
• The RMIT University Early Career Researcher International Travel Award, 2014
• The PTV Vision Scientific Award, 2011
• The David Willis Prize for best paper by a young professional at the 32nd Australasian Transport Research Forum, Auckland, New Zealand, 2009

 

Memberships

 

   External Organisations

 

• Executive Board Member of the Institute of Transportation Engineers Australia and New Zealand Section Inc. (ITEANZ), 2015 to present
• Fellow of the Institute of Engineers Australia, 2017 to present
• Member of the Australasian Association for Engineering Education, 2019 to present
• Executive Committee Member of the Australasian Association for Engineering Education, 2019 to 2025

 

   Guest Editorial Membership of Special Issues

• Lead Guest Editor of the Special Issue “Optimization Concepts in Traffic and Transportation Science”, Journal of Advanced Transportation, 2017
• Lead Guest Editor of the Special Issue “Sustainable and Resilient Transport Infrastructure”, Journal of Advanced Transportation, 2018
• Guest Editor of the Special Issue “Pedestrian Safety and Sustainable Transportation”, Sustainability, 2019
• Lead Guest Editor of the Special Issue “Impact of COVID-19 on Pedestrian Behavior, Road Safety and Sustainable Transportation”, Sustainability, 2022

 

   Editorial Board Membership

 

• Editorial Board Member, The Open Transportation Journal, 2016 to 2020
• Editorial Board Member, International Journal of Intelligent Transportation Systems Research, 2016 to present
• Editorial Board Member, Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering (English Edition), 2017 to present
• Editorial Board Member, Journal of Advanced Transportation, 2020 to present
• Editorial Board Member, Sustainability, 2020 to present
• Editorial Board Member, Scientific Reports, 2021 to present

 

   Technical and Scientific Committee Membership

 

• Technical Committee Member of the 5^th International Conference on Transportation and Traffic Engineering, 6-10 July 2016, Lucerne, Switzerland
• Scientific Committee Member and Deputy Chair/Leader of “Traffic Engineering and Management” Committee in the 40^th Australasian Transport Research Forum (ATRF) Conference, 30 October-1 November 2018, Darwin, Australia
• Technical Committee Member of the 7^th International Conference on Transportation and Traffic Engineering, 21-23 December 2018, Beijing, China
• Technical Committee Member of the 7^th International Conference on Transportation and Logistic Engineering, 21-23 August 2019, Paris, France
• Scientific Committee Member and Chair of “Traffic Engineering, Management and Safety” Committee in the 41^st Australasian Transport Research Forum (ATRF) Conference, 30 September to 2 October 2019, Canberra, Australia
• Technical Committee Member of the 8^th International Conference on Transportation and Traffic Engineering, 19-21 December 2019, Auckland, New Zealand
• Technical Committee Member of the 9^th International Conference on Transportation and Traffic Engineering, 29-31 December 2020, Naples, Italy
• Technical Committee Member of the 9^th International Conference on Traffic and Logistic Engineering, 9-11 August 2021, Macau, China
• Scientific Committee Member and Deputy Chair of “Traffic Engineering, Management and Safety” Committee in the 42^nd Australasian Transport Research Forum (ATRF) Conference, 8-10 December 2021, Brisbane, Australia
• Technical Committee Member of the 10^th International Conference on Transportation and Traffic Engineering, 24-26 December 2021, Chengdu, China
• Technical Committee Member of the 10^th International Conference on Traffic and Logistic Engineering, 12-14 August 2022, Macau, China
• Technical Committee Member of the 11^th International Conference on Transportation and Traffic Engineering, 27-29 December 2022, Wuhan, China
• Technical Committee Member of the 11^th International Conference on Traffic and Logistic Engineering, 25-27 August 2023, Macau, China
• Technical Committee Member of the 7^th International Conference on Intelligent Traffic and Transportation, 18-20 September 2023, Madrid, Spain
• Technical Committee Member of the 8^th International Conference on Intelligent Traffic and Transportation, 16-18 September 2024, Florence, Italy
• Scientific Committee Member and Chair of “Traffic Safety” Committee in the 45^th Australasian Transport Research Forum (ATRF) Conference, 27-29 November 2024, Melbourne, Australia
• Technical Committee Member of the 13^th International Conference on Transportation and Traffic Engineering, 28-30 December 2024, Wuhan, China
• Technical Committee Member of the 9^th International Conference on Intelligent Traffic and Transportation, 8-10 September 2025, Amsterdam, the Kingdom of the Netherlands
• Scientific Committee Member and Chair of “Traffic Safety” Committee in the 46^th Australasian Transport Research Forum (ATRF) Conference, 18-20 November 2025, Auckland, New Zealand
• Technical Committee Member of the 14^th International Conference on Transportation and Traffic Engineering,  27-29 December 2025, Wuhan, China
• Technical Program Committee Member of the International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems and Automation Control, 4-5 July 2026, Luoyang, China
• Technical Committee Member of the 14^th International Conference on Traffic and Logistic Engineering, 21-23 August 2026, Macau, China
• Technical Committee Member of the 10^th International Conference on Intelligent Traffic and Transportation, 2-4 September 2026, Oslo, Norway
• Scientific Committee Member and Chair of “Traffic Safety” Committee in the 47^th Australasian Transport Research Forum (ATRF) Conference, 24-26 November 2026, Sydney, Australia
• Technical Committee Member of the 15^th International Conference on Transportation and Traffic Engineering,  4-6 December 2026, Wuhan, China

 

Invited Talks

 

• Lane Changing Behaviour of Heavy Vehicle Drivers, the PTV Vision Asia-Pacific Users Group Meeting, Sydney, Australia, 18-19 November 2010 (Invited Speech)
• Lane Changing Behaviour of Heavy Vehicle Drivers, the 21^st PTV Users’ Group Meeting, New York, U.S., 13-14 September 2011 (Invited Speech)
• Microsimulation of Driving Behaviour in Congestion, Department of Infrastructure Engineering, University of Melbourne, Australia, 3 April 2013 (Invited Speech)
• Influence of Heavy Vehicles on their Surrounding Traffic Characteristics, the 2^nd International Conference on Transportation Information and Safety (ICTIS), Wuhan, China, 28 June-1 July 2013 (Invited Speech)
• New Understandings of Traffic Behaviour, the 2^nd International Conference on Transportation Information and Safety (ICTIS), Wuhan, China, 28 June-1 July 2013 (Keynote Speech)
•  Interview on “Transport and Road Research” published in Engineers Australia Journal, Civil Edition, 86(10):56, October 2014
• Measuring Accessibility and Accident Risk in the Melbourne Metropolitan Area, the Capital Markets Cooperative Research Centre (CMCRC), Sydney, Australia, 11 July 2017 (Invited Speech)
• Optimising Pavement Evaluation System Using Innovative Technique, Global Summit on Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, Barcelona, Spain, 19-21 July  2021 (Invited Speech)
• Dynamic Monitoring and Prediction of Pavement Performance, the 4^th IEEE International Symposium on Traffic Transportation and Civil Architecture, Suzhou, China, 12-14 November 2021 (Keynote Speech)
•  Interview on “The Impact of AI on the Engineering Profession”, Engineers Australia Research on Future of Engineering and AI, June 2024
• Physics-Informed Deep Learning Approach in Solving Transportation Problems, the 2^nd International Conference on Intelligent Transportation and Smart Cities. 21-22 March 2025, Luoyang, China (Keynote Speech)
• Pedestrian Crossing Time and Speed Estimation Using YOLOv11 and Deep SORT, the 9^th International Conference on Intelligent Traffic and Transportation, 8-10 September 2025, Amsterdam, the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Session Keynote Lecture)
• Estimating Pedestrian Crossing Dynamics Using YOLOv11 and Multi-Object Tracking, the Annual Global Summit on Civil, Structural, and Environmental Engineering, 17-19 September 2025, Bern, Switzerland (Keynote Speech)
• AI on the Crosswalk: Advancing Pedestrian Safety at Intersections, the 2^nd International Symposium on Intelligent Technology for Future Transportation, 18-20 November 2025, London, United Kingdom (Keynote Speech)
• Enhancing Pedestrian Safety Through AI, the 3^rd International Conference on Intelligent Transportation and Smart Cities, 10-12 April 2026, Luoyang, China (Keynote Speech)
• AI-Driven Analytics for the Safety of Vulnerable Road Users, the 3^rd International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems and Automation Control, 4-5 July 2026, Luoyang, China (Keynote Speech)
• Bridging Data and Physics: A Physics-Informed Deep Learning Framework for Pedestrian Velocity Estimation, the 10^th International Conference on Intelligent Traffic and Transportation, 2-4 September 2026, Oslo, Norway (Session Keynote Lecture)