Digital Society and Economy

Academic degree and current position in TSI: professor, leading researcher of the Engineering Faculty.

Previous experience: Rector and more than 10 years a Vice-rector for Education Affairs for Transport and Telecommunication Institute (TSI), Program Director of the Bachelor of Computer Science Program, 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 (2013-2024):

• ERASMUS+ project “Ecosystem for European Education Mobility as a Service: Model with Portal Demo (eMEDIATOR)”, No 2021-1-LV01-KA220-HED-000027571, Project Manager, Leading Researcher (2021-2023).
• ERASMUS+ project “Strengthening digital pedagogy skills and competencies of educators” (INGENIOUS), No. 2020-1-EL01-KA226-VET-094871 (2021-2023), Manager, Researcher (2021-2023).
• 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 transfer 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 4 PhD theses.

Awards: 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.(2017); acknowledgments by Ministry of Education and Science (2005);acknowledgments by Latvian Education Fund; TSI Goda Raksti (2019); TSI Aizinības Raksti (2019, 2021,2022); TSI Diploma for Significant Contribution to the Development of the TSI (2024); TSI Diploma for Innovation Teaching Methods(2024).

Academic degree and current position in TSI: Professor, Leading Researcher of the Faculty of Transport and Management, Director of the PhD study program Digital Economy and Business, Chairwomen of PhD Promotion Council “Economics and Management”

Previous experience: more than 30 years’ experience in Higher Education teaching, include 10 years (2008 – 2018) as a professor, Higher School of Social Administration in Warsaw, Poland; more than 10 years Vice Rector of Research and Development, BIA; more 12 years Director of the PhD study program Regional Economy and Economics Policy, BIA; dean of the Transport and Management Faculty, TSI.

Membership: since 2024 expert at World Bank Group (B-Ready, 2025), since 2023 expert at UN Environment Programme (GEO-7 multidisciplinary expert), since 2020 lead researcher at Eurasian Scientific Institute, member of the Scientific Council Eurasian Scientific Institute, Aktau, Kazakhstan, since 2018 member of the State Council of Emeritus Scientists in Latvian Ministry of Education and Science; since 2013 Expert of Latvian Council for Science in Business and Economics field. Member of Editorial Board of the Journals: since 2012 Economic Annals – XXI (SCOPUS, WoS); since 2017-2022 Baltic Journal of Economic Studies (WoS), Since 2018 – member of the program committee of the International Scientific Conference “Reliability and Statistics in Transportation and Communication (RelStat)” (Scopus, WoS), since 2013 ACTA STING (ERICH plus), since 2015 De Securitate et Defensione (ERICH plus), since 2021 Green, Blue and Digital Economy  etc.

Academic experience:

Author more than 110 publications, incl. 3 study books, 4 monographs and book chapters; 2015–2021 – Chairwomen of the PhD Promotion Council in Economics and Business, BIA; since 2024 Chairwomen of the PhD Promotion Council in Economics and Business, TSI; 2009-2021 Member of the Professors’ Council in Economics and Business, (BIA); Since 2022 – member of the Research and PhD Council at TSI.

Certificates by the courses (Coursera): Business Sustainability in the Circular Economy (2023, University of London); Digital Transformation (2023, University of Virginia); Doing Economics: Measuring Climate Change (2022, University of London).

Teaching at post- and graduate level: Regional Economy and Management, Theory of regional development (PhD programme, BIA); Economics security (MSc in Social Administration, Warsaw), Тransport economics (MSc in Transport and Logistics, TSI), Digital Economy (PhD programme, TSI) etc. Visiting professor at Tashkent Government Economic University (2017, 2019), Uzbekistan; University of Natural Sciences and Humanities in Siedlce, Poland (2017); Tashkent University of Oriental Study, Uzbekistan (2018); National Taiwan University, Taiwan (2018), Thomas More University, Belgium, (2022), Genoa University, Italy, (2023), Chinese Culture University, International trade department, Taiwan (2024).

Participation in projects

“Factors of development of competitiveness and efficiency of the management of small and medium sized enterprises in the local and global environment” (2016 – 2021), the Institute of Economic research and Analytics STING ACADEMY, leader researcher. “Participation of small and medium – size enterprises in the implementation of the innovation policy of Taiwan” (02/2018 – 07/2018), National Taiwan University. Awarded from Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taiwan, Chinese Culture University, Taiwan “The development of high technologies and digital waste: the experience of Taiwan and the Baltic States” (01/20204-12/20224) Awarded from Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taiwan.

Research Interests:

Regional development, Investment attractiveness, International Business, Digitalization, Transport Economy, Transport Air Pollution and Digital Waste.

Supervised Doctoral, Master and Bachelor Theses (number): Promoted 9 Doctoral, more than 100 Master theses and 100 Bachelor theses, and official reviewers of 11 PhD theses.

Awards: by the Government of Republic of Uzbekistan for the best popular science article (2018). TSI: For international Recognition and Brand Visibility, 2024.

Academic degree and current position in TSI: Professor, Leading Researcher of the Faculty of Transport and Management, Director of study program MSc in Business and Management.

Previous experience: 41 years’ experience in Higher Education teaching Accounting and Finance; managing of high educational departments, and more than 25 years’ experience in industry as a consultant and professional advance qualification trainer.  

Membership: Since 2014 – Programme Committee Member and since 2018 vice-chair of the International Scientific Conference “Reliability and Statistics in Transportation and Communication”, RelStat (Scopus, WoS); Since 2006 – Member of the Advisory Committee of the Annual International conference, Bulgarian Association for Management Development and Entrepreneurship; Since 2015 – reviewer for the Emerald’s Emerging Markets Case Studies, EMCS, and 2018 member od editorial board (Scopus); Since 2020 – Reviewer of The Central European Business Review Journal, CEBR (Scopus, WoS); Since 2015 – International Strategic Management Conference, Peer-Review Committee (WoS); Since 2015 – The Clute Institute, Journal of Business Case Studies, member of Editorial Board (WoS); Since 2018 – the University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria, The University Yearbook, member of the Editorial Board; in 2012 – vice-chair of the 9th International Conference in Accounting and Finance in Transition, ICAFT-2012; 2011 – 2013 – The European Council for Small Business and Entrepreneurship, ECSB Country Vice President for Latvia.

Academic experience:

Author more than 80 publications, incl. 2 study books, 3 monographs and book chapters.  An Expert in Economics and Business of the Latvian Council for Science; 2013–2020 – Member of the Joint Professors’ Council in Economics and Business (RISEBA, BA School of Business and Finance, Ventspils University); Member of the Joint* Professors’ Council in Economics and Business, incl. Management Sciences (TSI, Turības University and BA School of Business and Finance); Since 2016 –  Research and PhD Council at TTI; 2005-2007 – Latvian Association of Certified Auditors, LZRA – member of examination commission in Financial Accounting.

Teaching activity: Bachelor programme: Accounting, Management Accounting, Entrepreneurship, Financial Reporting and Analysis. Master programme: Financial Management, International Financial Reporting Standards, IFRS; Financial and Management Analysis; Research Seminar. Doctoral programme: Financial Management.

Professional advanced qualification: Corporate Financial Management; Management Accounting; Business Plan preparation; Financial Reporting and Analysis based on IFRS.

Participation in projects: ERASMUS+ „Spread Your Wings” Nr. 2017-1-PL01-KA203-038782 project (2018-2020). ALLIANCE – Enhancing excellence and innovation capacity in sustainable transport interchanges. Grant agreement Nr. 692426 (2016–2018). ERAF project, VIAA, State Education Development Agency project “Development of institutional capacity of TSI Scientific Institution” Project Nr. 2.DP/2.1.1.3.3./15/IPIA/VIAA/006 (2015). ESF project nr. 1DP/1.1.2.1.2./09/IPIA/VIAA/011 for the year 2009-2014 „Doctoral study support programme”. The Economics and Law Sciences Expert’ Commision of the Latvian Council of Science: The main directions of Research in Economics and Law Sciences in 2003 – 2011 by LCS (different projects)

Research Interests: Financial and Management Accounting, International Reporting, Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development, Digital Techniques in Management and Finance.

Supervised Doctoral, Master and Bachelor Theses: Supervision of the Master’s Theses (average 5 works per study year) Master of Social Sciences in Management; an official reviewer of PhD thesis; Supervision of the Doctoral Theses.

Awards: LR Ministry of Education and Science, Certificate of honour of the Ministry of Education and Sciences, Minister Baiba Rivža (26.10.2007). Latvian Academy of Sciences, Certificate of honour of the Ministry of Sciences, LZA president Ojārs Spārītis (06.09.2019). Nomination in ‘The best tutor of the Year 2008’ from Latvia. The Institute of Certified Financial Management, ICFM (10.12.2008), London, the United Kingdom.

Motto: “Do what you love, and do it with love”.

Academic degree and current position in TSI: Associate Professor, the Faculty of Transport and Management

Experience: 20 years’ experience as a university lecturer, several years of experience as a scientific translator at Scientific Research Institute “Micropribor”, several years worked as a school teacher

Membership:

Expert of Latvian Council for Science in Business and Economics field;

Editor of Scientific Journal Cultural Heritage & Tourist Destinations: Creative Approaches in Development, ISSN 2592-8449.

Peer reviewer of the International Scientific Journal Tourism and Innovations, University of Economics, Varna, Bulgaria. Member of Editorial Board.

Peer reviewer of the Journal of Tourism and Services, Prague, Czech Republic, ISSN 1804-5650

Member of Scientific and Editorial Committee of the Journal of scientific articles of students and young scientists Development of Modern Business within the Concept of Green Economy

Organiser of Students’ Practical Conference Students’ Practice as the Basis of Professional Competence. Organiser and moderator of working sections and workshop within the frameworks of the project Enhancing Green Economy in 3 countries of Asia, Grant agreement 598470-EPP-1-2018-DE-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP – ENV2.

Teaching activity: Economic Theory; Advanced Microeconomics; International Economic Relations; Global Economy; Corporate Finance; Financial Management; Strategic Management; Project Management; Marketing; Business English.

Publication activity:  Author and co-author of scientific publications for 6 years: 57 scientific articles in indexed and peer reviewed scientific journals and proceedings of scientific conferences, participated in 27 scientific conferences and round tables with reports.

Participation in projects: the European grant 1.1.1.2. “Post-doctoral Research Aid” Project id. N. 1.1.1.2/16/I/001) of the Republic of Latvia, funded by the European Regional Development Fund. Research project No. 1.1.1.2/VIAA/3/19/458 “Development of Model of Smart Economy in Smart City” the European Project Enhancing Green Economy in 3 countries of Asia, Grant agreement 598470-EPP-1-2018-DE-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP – ENV2

Research Interests: The scientific interests are in the area of Smart economy, Sustainable Economy, International Economics, Human Capital, Intellectual Capital, Waste Management.

Supervised Doctoral, Master and Bachelor Theses (number): Supervision of the Doctoral Thesis; Master’s Theses; Bachelor Thesis.

Awards: three awards as the best professor of the university (Baltic International Academy, Latvia).

Award as the best presenter at the International Scientific Conference Economics and Management

Motto: “If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one”.

Maxima for teaching: People who know what they’re talking about don’t need PowerPoint

Dr Neil Rubens is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, visiting professor and leading project manager at Stanford University (USA) on projects, related to applications of artificial intelligence for industry analysis, was working as assistant professor at University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo (Japan), has excellent work experience in business sector as software engineer, as well as founder of own startup sectormap.net in Japan.

Academic degree and current position at TSI: Master of Economics, Researcher of the Transport and Management Faculty, Director of Master Professional Program “Aviation Management”, PhD student on Telematics and Logistics Program

Experience – 12 years’ experience in Higher Education (Professional English, Digital Marketing, Career Management), 2 years experience as a Program Director (Aviation Management)

Teaching activity – Business English (Bachelor of Social Sciences in Management); Digital Marketing (Bachelor of Social Sciences in Management); English for Students of Computer Science (Bachelor of Computer Science); Career Management (Bachelor of Social Sciences in Management), English for Students of Logistics (Bachelor of Logistics), etc.

Publication activity – the author of 7 publications, indexed by Scopus and Web of Science

Projects – a national representative and Management Committee Member of COST Action CA19102 “Language In The Human-Machine Era”; member of  the ERASMUS+ KA2 “SPREAD YOUR WINGS” 2017-1-PL01-KA203-038782 project; member of Cost Action: CA18231 Multi3Generation: Multi-task, Multilingual, Multi-modal Language Generation; member of the Cost Action: CA18209 European network for Web-centered linguistic data science. European Social Fund project “Strengthening Transport and Telecommunication Institute Academic Staff in the Areas of Strategic Specialisation” (Specific Objective 8.2.2 “To Strengthen Academic Staff of Higher Education Institutions in the Areas of Strategic Specialisation”, 1 year training at Riga International Airport Training Center, Latvia

Supervised theses – Supervisor of 8 Bachelor theses

Research fields/domains – Natural Language Processing, Value Proposition, Start-ups and Innovation Management, Aviation Management, Digital Marketing

Motto – It often seems impossible until it’s done

Academic degree and current position in TSI: Professor, Leading Researcher of the Faculty of Transport and Management, Vice-Dean for Academic Affairs of the Faculty of Transport and Management.

Previous experience: 35 years’ experience in Higher Education, 10 years’ experience of working as the Head of the Department (The Department of Linguistics and the Department of Management and Economics) at Transport and Telecommunication Institute, 4 years of experience working as a Vice-Dean for Academic Affairs at the Faculty of Transport and Management of Transport and Telecommunication Institute.

Membership: Since 2016 – Programme Committee Member of the International Scientific Conference “Reliability and Statistics in Transportation and Communication” (RelStat); since 2016 – Programme Committee Member of the International Scientific Symposium “Economics, Business and Finance”; 2012-2015 –  Programme Committee Member of the Scientific and Educational Conference “Actual Problems of Education”; since 2020 – Member of Editorial Board of the “Journal of Business, Management and Economics Engineering”/Vilnius Gedminas Technical University (WoS, Scopus); she is also reviewer of the following scientific journals indexed in WoS and/or Scopus: Higher Education Quarterly, International Journal of Innovation Science, Journal of Relationship Marketing, International Journal of Educational Management, Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, Administrative Sciences, Education Sciences, Information, International Journal of Financial Studies, Systems, Sustainability, Data, Societies, Multimodal Technologies and Interaction, Economies, Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research, Business, Management and Education.

Academic experience: Author of more than 50 publications, incl. six textbooks and book chapters. An Expert in in Educational Sciences, Economics and Business, Engineering and Technologies of the Latvian Council of Science. A member of the Joint Professors’ Council in Economics and Business (Transport and Telecommunication Institute, Turiba University and BA School of Business and Finance). Aa member of the Promotion Council for PhD Program in Digital Economy and Business at TSI.

Teaching activity: Contemporary Business Management (Doctoral Degree students); Strategic Management and Digital Business (Doctoral Degree students); Academic English (Master of Social Sciences in Management); Human Resource Management and Leadership (Master of Social Sciences in Management); Organizational Behaviour and Leadership; Strategic Management (Master of Social Sciences in Management); SMART administration (Master of Social Sciences in Management); Corporate Governance and Social Responsibility (Master of Social Sciences in Management), etc.

Participation in projects: a national representative and Management Committee Member of COST Action CA23112 “Critical perspectives on career and career guidance (COCAG)”, COST Action CA22120 “A European Network to Leverage the Multi-Age Workforce (LeverAge)”, COST Action CA21114 “CLIL Network for Languages in Education: Towards bi- and multilingual disciplinary literacies (CLILNetLE)”, COST Action CA19102 “Language In The Human-Machine Era”, COST Action CA18236 “Multi-disciplinary innovation for social change”, COST Action 15221 “Advancing effective institutional models towards cohesive teaching, learning, research and writing development”, COST Action CA15137 “European Network for Research Evaluation in the Social Sciences and the Humanities” (ENRESSH). Leader of the ERASMUS+ KA2 “SPREAD YOUR WINGS” 2017-1-PL01-KA203-038782 Project and ERASMUS+ “LEARN IT – Learning with ICT use” (2014-1-PL01-KA200-003353) Project, participant of the ESF project 2007/0010/VPD1/ESF/PIAA/06/APK/3.2.6.3./0110/0139 – “Professional Higher Education: TSI students practice in Transport and Logistics Enterprises”.

Research Interests: Business Digital Transformation, Sustainable Economic Development, Strategic Management, Educational Management, Marketing Management and Branding in Higher Education, Human Resource Management and leadership, Corporate Social Responsibility.   

Supervised Doctoral, Master and Bachelor Theses (number): Supervision of forty Master’s Theses and Doctoral Theses (Digital Economy and Business, Master of Social Sciences in Management; Professional Master’s Degree in Aviation Management), an official reviewer of six PhD theses at the University of Latvia.

Awards: Certificate of Appreciation in Recognition of Research Excellence (2019, TSI); Certificate of Appreciation in Recognition of Teaching Excellence (2019, TSI); Certificate of Appreciation in Recognition of the Contribution to the Interdisciplinary Approach to Research (2019, TSI).

Motto: “Motivation is a fire from within”.