Engineering Faculty

Academic degree and current position in TSI: Professor, Dr.sc.ing. Dr.hab.sc.ing, leading researcher of the Engineering Faculty, Director of PhD Programme “Telematics and Logistics”.

Previous Experience: Founder and President of Transport and Telecommunication Institute for over 15 years, Vice-rector for Research and Development Affairs for more than 10 years

Membership: Member of the Joint OECD/ITF Transport Research Committee (OECD – Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, ITF – International Transport Forum), Member of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Corresponding Member of Latvian Academy of Science, President of Latvian Transport Development and Education Association, President of Latvian Operations Research Society, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal “Transport and Telecommunication”, Member of the board of the Journals “Transport”, “Technological and Economic Development”, “Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering” etc.

Academic experience: Author of more than 600 academic and research publications, author of 68 patents. Expert of the Latvian Council of Science in Civil and Transport Engineering, Chairman of promotion council for PhD degree in Civil and Transport Engineering, Chairman of Professor Council in Telematics and Logistics.

Teaching at post- and graduate level: 45 years of pedagogical experience in university; courses: Research Methodology (PhD programme); New Trends of Telematics and Logistics Development (PhD programme), Research Methodology (MSc programme), Theory of Systems and System Analysis (MSc programme), Transport Policy (MSc programme), Intelligent Transport Systems (MSc programme), Reliability Engineering (BSc programme) etc.

Participation in projects: has participated in 37 international projects (in 26 projects as national coordinator of the projects) and 26 Latvian research projects and programs (in 23 as head of the projects) within the frame of COST Activities, Horizon 2020, Framework Programs, INTERREG etc. 

Research Interests: Transport Telematics and Logistics, Smart Cities, Analysis and Modelling of Transport Systems, Intelligent Transport Systems, Reliability of Electronics Systems, Internet of Things, Cyber-Physical Systems, Information Technology Applications, Electronics and Telecommunication, Decision Support Systems, Avionics, Air Traffic Control Systems and others.

Supervised Doctoral, Master and Bachelor Theses: Supervisor of 9 PhD theses and more than 200 Master and Bachelor theses.

Awards: 2 Gold and 5 Silver Medals of International Research and Innovation Exhibition of Innovators (1985-1990); Honorary title “Latvian Honored Inventor”, Latvian Parliament (1989); Award for Innovative Excellence in Teaching, Learning and Technology, USA (1998); Award and memorial medal for outstanding research in computer science and informatics,  Latvian Academy of Sciences (2001); Award and memorial medal for outstanding performance of research in air navigation, communication and radar technology, Latvian Academy of Sciences (2002); Certificate of Recognition as a significant contribution to the research and educational work in the transport, logistics and information technology, as well as on the international success in science, Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Latvia (2014); Certificate of Honor of the Latvian Academy of Sciences for research in the field of transport and logistics (2019).

Current position – Emeritus Professor of the Engineering Faculty, Director of the study direction “Transport and Business Logistics”.

Experience – More than 50 years of academic and research experience; Professor at Transport and Telecommunication Institute (2004-2020); Privatdocent at Otto-von-Guericke University (Germany) (2001-2014); Project manager at Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation (Germany) (2001-2020); Docent at Riga Technical University (1971-2001).

Membership – Member of the Latvian Simulation Society (since 1994); Member of the ASIM Simulation Society (Germany)(since 1989); Expert of Latvian Council for Science in Engineering Field (2017-2023); Member of Program Committee of International Winter Simulation Conference (USA) (since 2012); Member of Programme Committee of International Multi-Conference Reliability and Statistics in Transportation and Communication (since 2015); Member of editorial board “Transport and Telecommunication” journal.

Teaching activity – Modelling of systems (2ECTS, doctor level); Business process modelling (2ECTS, doctor level); Mathematical methods and models in logistics research (2ECTS, doctor level); Supply chain risk management (4ECTS, master level); Modelling of logistics and transport processes (4ECTS, master level); Modelling of systems (6ECTS, bachelor level); Simulation modelling in logistics (4ECTS, bachelor level).

Publication activity – Author/co-author of more than 160 research publications in journals and conference proceedings; ca. 30 publications are indexed by SCOPUS/WoS.

Projects – More than 35 contract research projects with the industry by working at Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation (Germany) (2001-2020).

Supervised theses (TSI) – 10 master level and 4 doctoral thesis supervision with successful defence.

Research fields/domains – Analysis, modelling and simulation of production and logistics systems.

Awards – Honorary Order of the Transport and Telecommunication Institute (2014).

Motto – “If you can’t explain it to a six year old, you don’t understand it yourself” (Albert Einstein).

Current position: Vice-rector for Academic and Research, Associated professor and leading researcher of the Engineering Faculty, Director of the MSc study program “Computer Science” and MSc study program “Management of Information Systems”, head of the “Laboratory of Applied Modelling (SimLab)”, head of research cluster “Modelling-Based Systems Analysis and Design (MADSYS)”.

Experience: more than 17 years of academic and research experience, more than 10 years in academic and research administration positions: Dean of the faculty, head of Research and development department. Microsoft Certified professional in Microsoft SQL Server;  Certified specialist in using PTV VISION software (traffic flow simulation); Coursera certificates in Creating Dashboards and Storytelling with Tableau, Essential Design Principles for Tableau, Fundamentals of Visualization with Tableau, Visual Analytics with Tableau, Enterprise Systems, Innovation Product Management, Building Conversational Experiences with Dialogflow; IBM Cognitive classes certificates in Big Data Foundations – Level 2, Applied Data Science with Python – Level 2, Deep Learning.

Membership: Member of the Latvian Simulation and Modelling Society, member of Latvian Transport Development and Education Association (LaTDEA), Expert of Latvian Council for Science in Engineering Field, programme committee member of International Multi-Conference Reliability and Statistics in Transportation and Communication (2017-2020), programme committee member of Conference on sustainable urban mobility (2016, 2018, 2020), Programme committee member, member of editorial board Transport and Telecommunication Journal.

Teaching activity: Enterprise Information Systems (6ECTS, master level), Research Seminar 2 (3ECTS, master level), Simulation in Logistics (3ECTS, bachelor level), System Modelling (6ECTS, bachelor level), Chatbot Design and Development (3ECTS, bachelor level).

Publication activity: Author/co-author of more than 30 research publications in journals and conference proceedings (indexed in SCOPUS/WoS). Co-author of several methodological books for students, co-author of the monography “Sensor Network Technology Applications in the Water Supply and Transport Systems” .

Projects: for the last years participated in more than 8 international projects (Horizon2020, FP7, Erasmus+, IEE, COST) and more than 10 contract research projects with the industry.

Supervised theses: 23 master level and 16 bachelor thesis supervision with successful defence; supervision of PhD thesis in a topic “Cargo hubs management based on advanced technologies”; the official reviewer of 4 PhD thesis.

Research fields/domains: simulation modelling, information systems, AI application.

Awards: Award in competition „For the best bachelor, master and PhD work related with transport issues in Riga city” (2010, 2009, 2008, 2007), Khaim Kardonsky memory foundation award for research in statistics and reliability (2007), K. Irbīša award (2004).

Motto: “Do not be afraid of new things”.

Hobby: Carpentering, numismatics.

Academic degree and current position in TSI: associate professor, Vice-dean of the Engineering Faculty, senior researcher, chair of Laboratory of Software and Information Systems Development Laboratory”, PhD thesis: Urban Public Transport Quality Estimation” (2015).

Previous experience: Dr.sc.ing. Irina Pticina has been the chair of Department of Software Engineering Transport and Telecommunication Institute (TSI) for five years.

Membership: National representative in some COST Actions:  TU0903 „Methods and tools for supporting the use, calibration and validation of traffic simulation models (MULTITUDE)”, TU0804 “Survey harmonization with New Technologies Improvement”

Academic experience: Author of more than 11 publications cited in scientific journals. The conference “Research and technology – step into the future”, Member of the programming committee.

Teaching at post- and graduate level: Image Processing (MSc in Computers Science, TSI), Programming, System Programming (Bachelor in Computer Science, TSI), Algorithms of Computer Graphics (Bachelor in Computer Science, TSI), Development in Net (Bachelor in Computer Science, TSI); etc.

Participation in projects: has participated in 6 European and Latvian research projects and 8 national transportation studies as researcher. National representative of COST Actions TU0903 „Methods and tools for supporting the use, calibration and validation of traffic simulation models (MULTITUDE)”, WG3: “Continuous National Travel Surveys”, European committee COST355; TU0804 “Survey harmonization with New Technologies Improvement”

Research Interests: Software Engineering, Programming, Computer Graphics, Transportation, Transport surveys. 

Supervised Doctoral, Master and Bachelor Theses (number): Promoted 7 Master theses and 79 Bachelor theses, supervised the PhD student in the Doctoral program Telematic and Logistics.

Awards: Competition for the bachelor’s theses in IT in Latvia, as a supervisor (2017, 2020). Open international competition for the best doctoral, masters, students and student research work related to the Riga city traffic problems winner of the research activity „ “Development of an urban transport system quality indicator for passenger transport””(2010).

Academic degree and current position in TSI: professor, leading researcher of the Engineering Faculty, Director of Bachelor in Computer Science programme.

Previous experience: Rector and more than 10 years a Vice-rector for Education Affairs for Transport and Telecommunication Institute (TSI), Software Engineering team lead and Quality Manager at SWH Technology (later Exigen Latvia).

Membership: LZP expert, AIC expert; Reviewer (member of the committee) in several international conferences (IADIS ML 2009-2019, ICALT 2009, ICEE/ICIT-2014 etc.); Member of the Editorial Board of the International Women’s On-line Distance Learning Journal (WOJDE, ISSN:2147-0367); TSI Representative for Europe Informatics (Informatics Latvia); TSI Member of the Senate; MIP-2006-2018 Chairman and member of the Organizing Committee (TSI, Riga, Latvia); Member of the Latvian Operations Research Society; Member of the Latvian Association of University Professors.

Academic experience:

• university lecturer with 40 years of experience (all types of teaching, including distance learning)
• expert in the development and evaluation of university programs.
• good knowledge of education and software development quality control processes (currently conducting quality audits at international level)
• scientist in the software development industry
• experienced university education process administrator
• academic internship and lecturing abroad (University of Manchester, UK -1994, Ottawa University, Canada – 1995, University of Hagen, Germany – 1999, University of Florence, Italy – 2008, University of Murcia – 2014, European Humanitarian University, Lithuania – 2018, Vilnius Tech University, Lithuania – 2021).

Author of more than 50 scientific and academic publications, 3 textbooks.

Teaching at post- and graduate level: Information and Software Systems Quality Models, Scientific Seminar (MSc in Computers Science, MIS, TSI); Object-Oriented Programming, Software Engineering, Transport Modelling, Introduction into Computer Science (Bachelor in Computers Science, TSI); etc.

Participation in projects (2013-2020):

• ERAF Project “Strengthening the academic staff of the Transport and Telecommunication Institute in the areas of strategic specialization” Nr. 8.2.2.0/18/A/011″ Nr. 8.2.2.0/18/A/011, Supervisor (2018-2020).
• INTERREG CB 2010-2020 Project “Harmonised and Modernised Multidisciplinary Railway Education” (EDU-RAIL), Leading Researcher (2015 – 2018).
• ERASMUS+ project iSECRET “Implementation of Software Engineering Competence Remote Evaluation for Master Program Graduates”, ID – 2015-1-LV01-KA203-013439, 2015-2017, Project Manager (2015-2017).
• FP7: Enhancing  transfering of Intelligent Transportation System innovations to the market (TTRANS), 2012-2015, Leading Researcher (2013).

Research Interests: Object-Oriented Programming, Software Engineering, Process Maturity, Artificial Intelligence, Digital Forensic, Quality Management Systems, Online Pedagogy and E-learning.

Supervised Doctoral, Master and Bachelor Theses (number): Promoted 1 Doctoral, more than 30 Master theses and more than 50 Bachelor theses and was official reviewers of 3 PhD theses.

Awards: (2017) Nomination for King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa UNESCO Award for the use of ICT in Education by the Ministry of Education and Science of Latvia.(2019); acknowledgments by Ministry of Education and Science (2005);acknowledgments by Latvian Education Fund.