Researcher

Keywords

Fields of Research (FoR)

Transportation, logistics and supply chains, Road transportation and freight services, Maritime transportation and freight services, Rail transportation and freight services

Biography

Senior Lecturer in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering's Research Centre for Integrated Transport Innovation

Elli is a Senior Lecturer in Transport Engineering at the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of New South Wales (UNSW). Her research focuses on the automation, digitalisation, optimisation, and decarbonisation of transport and mobility systems, with a particular emphasis on freight transport. Elli...view more

Senior Lecturer in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering's Research Centre for Integrated Transport Innovation

Elli is a Senior Lecturer in Transport Engineering at the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of New South Wales (UNSW). Her research focuses on the automation, digitalisation, optimisation, and decarbonisation of transport and mobility systems, with a particular emphasis on freight transport. Elli began her professional career in 2005 as a Civil and Road Design Engineer and has accumulated over a decade of industry experience across consulting and government sectors, complemented by an extensive academic and research career.

She received her PhD at the School of Civil Engineering of the University of Queensland (UQ) (2014-2017). Prior to that, she worked in the transport industry as a senior transport engineer in Iran for nine years. Her PhD was on behavioural freight transport modelling, in which she contributed to the field of behavioural agent-based modelling and operation research. From 2017 to 2020, she completed a three-year postdoctoral research fellowship at UQ’s Business Faculty on a partnership project with the Port of Brisbane. From 2020 to 2022, she worked as a Principal Engineer and the Portfolio Leader of Next Generation Transport Systems at the National Transport Research Organisation (NTRO, formerly ARRB) where she led several projects in automated driving technologies and sensors, infrastructure readiness for autonomous vehicles, smart heavy vehicle access monitoring and heavy vehicle origin-destination modelling. Elli joined UNSW in March 2022 as a Senior Lecturer of Transport Engineering. 

Elli's research focuses on freight transport optimisation, decarbonisation, automation and behavioural econometric and strategic transport modelling. Please visit her Research Portfolio for more details.

 

***Scholarships of $38,438 (AUD) are available for Ph.D. students who achieved High Distinction (H1) in their undergraduate program and/or have completed a Master’s degree by Research.***

***A new research proposal is needed based on our further discussions***

Several types of scholarships are available (International Postgraduate Research Scholarships & China Scholarship Council (CSC) Sponsored Studies); however, admission and scholarship applications are highly competitive. Undergraduate Students (Top 15%) or Master Students  (Top 20%) in Transportation, Industrial Engineering or Computer Science are highly preferred. You need to meet the English language requirements (refer to UNSW Sydney: TOEFL (IBT) 90 overall (min. 23 in writing, 22 in reading, listening, and speaking) and IELTS (Academic) 6.5 overall (min. 6.0 in each subset)). In addition, during your Ph.D. study, possible Ph.D. exchange with other top universities is encouraged, e.g. ETH Zurich, Cambridge, UCB, MIT, Université Paris Saclay, CityU of HK, NTNU, Tsinghua University, and NUS, and attending international conferences is also sponsored.

If you are eligible and interested in working with me on the following (or closely related) topics or keywords, please send me your CV, academic transcripts and a research proposal consisting of Research Motivation, Research Problems, Research Objectives, a Brief Review of the most relevant Literature, Proposed Methodology and Expected Outcome (including a timetable over 3.5 years).

 


My Grants

ARC Industry Fellowship: Data-driven orchestration of port and hinterland freight transport system (2026-29)

DFAT-SARIC Training: Digitalisation of Freight and Logistics for Enhanced Trade Effectiveness (2025)

CRC iMove: Freight Rail Reform Policy (2024-25)

CRC iMove: Desire lines user behaviour research: initial scoping and feasibility (2022-23)

 

 


My Qualifications

PhD, the University of Queensland, (2014-2018)

Master of Transportation Engineering and Bachelor of Civil Engineering (Honours)


My Research Activities

UNSW Research Projects (2022-current):

  1. Heavy Vehicle Access and Structural Assessment Tool Development (Client: UGL Regional Linx, Role: Project Manager, June to Oct 2025)
  2. Freight Rail Reform Policy (Client: Transport for NSW & iMove CRC, Role: Chief Investigator, 2024-5)
  3. Desire Lines User Behaviour: Initial Research (Client: Vic DoT & iMove CRC, Role: Project Manager, 2022-3)
  4. Transport Modelling Guideline Review (Client: Transport for NSW, Role: Subject Matter Expert, 2023)

Research Projects conducted at the National Transport Research Organisation (NTRO) (2020-2022):

  1. Heavy Vehicle Accessibility Impact in South Brisbane (Client: TMR, Role: Project Manager)
  2. Best Practice Review of Heavy Vehicle Smart Monitoring Technologies (Client: TMR, Role: Project Manager)
  3. Minimum Physical Infrastructure Requirements to Support the Operation of Automated Driving Technologies (Client: Austroads, Role: Project Manager)
  4. CAV Probe Vehicle (Client: iMove CRC, Role: Project Manager)
  5. Infrastructure Requirements of Connected Automated Vehicles (Client: Major Projects Victoria, Role: Project Manager)
  6. Evaluation of Towards Zero Connected and Automated Vehicle (CAV) Trial Grants Program (Client: Vic DoT(subcontracted by EY), Role: Project Manager)
  7. Port of Fremantle Origin-Destination Study (Client: MRWA, Role: Project Manager)
  8. Future Transport and Mobility Environment (Client: TMR, Role: Team member)
  9. Review of Dynamic Traffic Assignment Models and Tools (Client: MRWA, Role: Quality Manager)
  10. Speed Trial Survey (Client: Vic DoT, Role: Quality Manager)

Research Projects at the University of Queensland (2017-2020):

  1. Investigating the demand for coastal shipping by developing econometric models (Client: Port of Brisbane Pty. Ltd., Role: Postdoctoral Research Fellow)
  2. Blockchain-based trade community system architectural design (Client: Port of Brisbane Pty. Ltd., Role: Postdoctoral Research Fellow)
  3. Freight Data Requirement Study (Client: DITRDC & iMove CRC, Role: Project Manager)
  4. From Roots to Routes: A Ground Up Approach to Freight and Supply Chain Planning for Northern Rivers NSW (Client: Regional Australia, Role: Chief Investigator)
  5. Who Moves What Where (Client: NTC, Role: Chief Investigator)

 


My Research Supervision


Supervision keywords


Areas of supervision

  • Agent-based and/or system-dynamic freight transport modelling
  • Activity-based strategic freight transport modelling
  • Digital twins development, AI predictive algorithms, optimisation and decision support systems for freight transport and port applications
  • Route and infrastructure optimisation for electrified heavy vehicles and freight rail
  • Automation of trucks and container terminal operation, interaction with infrastructure

Currently supervising

PhD Primary Supervision

  1. Ms Maryam Safarnezhad, Adaptive Optimisation of Container Stacking and Relocation in Maritime Container Terminals, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UNSW (Sep 2024 – ongoing)
  2. Ms Annisa, System Modelling of Freight Heavy Vehicle Fleet Dynamics, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UNSW (Sep 2024 – ongoing)
  3. Ms Fatemeh Hirbid, Proactive Optimisation of Truck Appointment System in Container Terminals, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UNSW (Feb 2025 – ongoing)
  4. Randy Franstiarajah, Heavy Vehicle Transport Emission Modelling (Sep 2025 -ongoing)

 Past HDR (Co)Supervisions:

  1. Dr Amirhossein Ordibazar, Explainable AI for Risk Management in Container Supply Chain, UNSW Canberra (completed in 2025)- PhD Co-supervision at UNSW Canberra
  2. Dr Mohammad Alipour, Adoption of Photovoltaic Solar and Battery among Residents in Southeast Queensland, School of Energy Systems Engineering, Griffith University (completed in 2022)- PhD Co-supervision at Griffith University
  3. Mr Mehdi Taghavi, Port Competitiveness Model and Intermodal Freight Transportation, School of Civil Engineering, University of Queensland (2022-ongoing)- PhD Co-supervision at the University of Queensland
  4. Ms Kesewa Opoku Augyemang, Sustainable Freight Transport Framework Assessment for Perishable Agricultural Products, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of New South Wales (completed in Nov 2024)- Master's by Research Primary supervision
  5. Mr Chi Zhang, Truck-drone delivery in dense urban areas (to be completed in May 2026)- Master of Civil Engineering, Primary Supervision
  6. Mr Shawn Win, Simulation of automated trucks in mixed traffic conditions (to be completed in Aug 2026)- Master of Civil Engineering, Primary Supervision
  7. Mr Minhao Chen, Analysis of the interaction of heavy vehicles and automated vehicles on dedicated lanes: a driving simulation experiment (completed in Nov 2025)- Master of Civil Engineering, Primary Supervision
  8. Ms Mora Tao, Designing an educational logistics game for practitioners (completed in Nov 2025)- Master of Civil Engineering, Primary Supervision
  9. Ms Bingbing Shi, Truck arrival pattern prediction in container ports using AI (completed in Nov 2025)- Master of Civil Engineering, Primary Supervision
  10. Mr Jianhui Guo, Simulating last-mile electric heavy vehicle operations (completed in Nov 2025)- Master of Civil Engineering, Primary Supervision
  11. Mr Zac Yao, Yard Forecasting: Improving Container Terminal Efficiency Using Time-Series Models (completed in Nov 2025), Master of Computer Science; Co-supervision at the University of Auckland
  12. Mr Fengfan Chen, Life Cost Analysis of Aviation Fuel Distribution Network (completed in Aug 2025)- Master of Civil Engineering, Primary Supervision
  13. Mr Jingbing Wu,Optimal design of Dedicated Lane for Automated Trucks (completed in May 2025)- Master of Civil Engineering, Primary Supervision
  14. Mr Bingchen Wu,Container Terminal Capacity Optimisation (completed in Aug 2025)- Master of Civil Engineering, Primary Supervision
  15. Mr Rasyid Indra Pratama, Simulation of Container movements and Policy Evaluation (completed in 2024)- Master of Civil Engineering, Primary Supervision
  16. Mr Lifeng Ni, LogisticChain: a Blockchain-based Supply Chain Model, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of New South Wales (completed in 2023)- Master of Civil Engineering, Primary Supervision
  17. Mr Dingli Xi, Time-series analysis of social media impact on cryptocurrency investment behaviour, School of Economics, University of Queensland (completed in 2019)- Master of Economics, Primary Supervision, the University of Queensland

 

Past Honours Supervision:

  1. Ms Sophia Cibei, Battery freight rail energy consumption model and development of a decision support system for charging and battery swapping decision (completed in Aug 2025)
  2. Mr Matthew Sin, A system dynamic model for freight modal shift policy assessments (completed in Nov 2025)

My Engagement

Elli is an Associate of the UNSW's Australian Human Rights Institute and engages in human rights activities and projects. She also serves as the Equity, Diversion, and Inclusion (EDI) Officer at the School of Civil Engineering. Elli co-leads the JINA Program, a Pilot Program tailored for supporting, mentoring and networking the UNSW's female students with forced migration and refugee background (see the video), and organizes mentoring events for Women in Transport.

Elli is the co-chair of the Bridging Transport Researchers (BTR) Conference, and the guest editor of BTR Special issue of the Journal of Transport Planning and Technology. BTR is an online free peer-reviewed conference for connecting transport researchers around the globe and aims to remove the burden of travel and obtaining visa, the cost of registration, & greenhouse gases associated with transport & accommodations. The first round was run in 2019 and after COVID, it has continued every year. Since 2022, she serves as the Associate Editor of BTR Special Issues at the Journal of Transportation Planning and Technology, published by Taylor & Francis.

Since 2024, Elli serves as a Board Member of Centre for Connected and Automated Transport (CCAT). In 2021, she served as a Member of the Australian National Blockchain Roadmap Committee − Supply Chain Working Group at the Department of Industry, Science, Environment, and Resources (2021).


My Teaching

  • Postgraduate Course CVEN9421, Term 1: Transport Logistics Engineering (Focus: Logistics Engineering and Modelling)
  • Undergraduate course ENGG1400, Term 2: Infrastructure Systems Engineering (Focus: Operation Research and Systems Modelling)
  • Undergraduate course CVEN3402, Term 2: Transport Engineering and Environmental Sustainability ( Focus: Transport Emission Modelling)
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Location

Engineering
Civil Engineering Building (H20), Level 1, Room 105, Kensington Campus

Contact

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ORCID as entered in ROS

orcid_icon https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6298-6042

UNSW Sydney NSW 2052 Australia Telephone +61 2 93851000
Authorised by Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research)
UNSW CRICOS Provider Code: 00098G ABN: 57 195 873 179

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