Daniel Watts, who graduated from the Transport Planning and Management MSc course at the University of Westminster, has won the 2021 Voorhees-Large Prize for his dissertation titled A Methodology To Create A Work-From-Home Trip Generation Indicator: An Application In England And Wales.
Daniel Watts has been awarded the 2021 Voorhees-Large Prize for his dissertation submitted for his Masters in Transport Planning and Management course under the supervision of Dr Cao Mengqiu, David Carrignon (Arcadis) and Dr Enrica Papa.
The Voorhees-Large Prize, which is worth £1000, is awarded by the Brian Large Bursary Fund for the best dissertation submitted by a UK resident studying for a Transport Masters.
Daniel is a Senior Transport Planner with consultants WSP based in Guildford. He joined Mouchel, now part of WSP, on a work placement scheme and was then appointed to their modelling team. Keen to become a Chartered Transport Planner, Dan was sponsored by WSP to study part-time for his MSc at Westminster, graduating with distinction.
The topic of his dissertation was influenced by his knowledge of forecasting travel demand, and Dan was aware that little consideration had been given to the impact which increasing levels of working from home was having. His dissertation exploits the consequence of the pandemic to produce a methodology that creates a working-from-home trip generation indicator, which can be applied to current demand forecasting processes.
Speaking about her former student’s achievement, Dr Enrica Papa said: “The choice of subject made Daniel’s study inherently original and creative. The COVID-19 pandemic had caused a dramatic shift in trip generation during 2020; in particular, commute trips were significantly reduced due to working-from-home (WFH).”
On being told about Daniel’s award, David Carrignon said: “This dissertation was an excellent opportunity to initiate a successful collaboration with the University of Westminster. Dr Enrica Papa and Dr Mengqui (Matthew) Cao were able to select this topic within a range of options, identify Daniel Watts as an excellent student and a good fit for the topic and supported the research with a well-structured supervision. I am extremely enthusiastic about the prospect of developing this cooperation further.”
Find out more about the Transport Planning and Management MSc course at the University of Westminster.
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