Dr Melody Khadem Sameni Eur Ing, BSc, PhD, CEng, MICE, MIHT

School of Engineering
Associate Professor of Rail Transportation Engineering
Programme Director of MSc Railway Systems Engineering and Integration

Contact details

Telephone: +971 44280741
Email: m.khademsameni@bham.ac.uk

View my research portal

Address: Department of Civil Engineering
School of Engineering
University of Birmingham Dubai
Dubai International Academic City
PO Box 341799
Dubai

Melody Khadem Sameni is associate professor of Railway Transportation Engineering and also the program director of MSc Railway Systems Engineering and Integration at the University of Birmingham- Dubai Campus. She previously held the position of Assistant Professor and head of Railway Transportation Group at the School of Railway Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology. She is an enthusiastic fan of railways who tries to improve various aspects of this industry through education and research.

She actively collaborates with the International Union of Railways (UIC) and International Association of Public Transport (UITP) as well as the railway industry. She has been invited as a keynote speakers to several transport conferences including UIC Symposium 2021, 4th Workshop on Railway Operation for Safety and Reliability at the City University of Hong Kong in 2019 and 4th International Sympsium on Railway Systems Engineering at the Karabuk University,Turkey. She has also been invited as a panellist to Asia Pacific Rail 2024 and UITP Women in Public Transport 2024.

Qualifications

PhD in Civil Engineering, University of Southampton, 2012
MSc in Socio-Economic Systems Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University, 2008
BSc in Railway Transportation Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, 2003

Biography

She started this journey by doing a bachelor’s degree on Railway Transportation Engineering. Her master’s degree of socio-economic systems engineering helped her to see the big picture, complexities and interconnectedness that exist in transportation systems enabling her to broaden problem solving approaches and be innovative.

Being awarded a prestigious full scholarship, she did her PhD at the University of Southampton under the supervision of Professor John Preston on railway capacity during which she won an award from the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) for best innovative poster award as well as a personal development from the university of Southampton. She is an enthusiastic fan of railways who tries to improve various aspects of this industry through education and research.

Her research has been published in major transportation journals including Transport policy, Transportation Research Record, Journal of Transport Geography, Research in transportation Business & Management, Promet-Traffic &Transportation, journal of Rail Transport Planning & Management and journal of Environment, Development and Sustainability.

She has also presented her research findings at the main international transportation conferences including World Congress on Railway Research (WCRR), TRB annual meeting, World Conference on Transport Research and International seminar on Railway Operations Modelling and Analysis.

Teaching

Railway Operations, Management and Planning
Business and people Management
Systems Engineering and Ergonomics

Postgraduate supervision

Railway operations
Railway capacity
Transportation planning
High Speed Railway
Optimization and efficiency

Research

My research mainly focuses on improving different aspects of railway operations and overall transportation planning by having a systems engineering approach.

These topics include (but are not limited to), capacity, demand analysis, policy, efficiency, safety and sustainability.

Other activities

Co-Chair of Special Interest Group A3 (Rail Transport) of the World Conference on Transport Research Society.
Member of Technical Committee of Global Rail 2024

Publications

Izadi Yazdan Abadi E., Khadem Sameni, M. & Yaghini, M. (2023), Analysis of the relationship between geometric parameters of railway track and twist failure by using data mining techniques. Engineering Failure Analysis,143, 106862.
Maljaee, S. S. , Khadem Sameni, M& Ahmadi, M. (2022), Effects of railway noise and vibrations on dissatisfaction of residents: case study of Iran. Environment, Development and Sustainability 1-31.
Khadem Sameni, M. & Moradi, A. (2022), Railway capacity: A review of analysis methods. Journal of Rail Transport Planning & Management, 24, 100357.
Barzegar Tilenoie, A., Khadem Sameni, M. & Habibian, M. (2022), Forecasting High-Speed Railway Demand in the Absence of Air Competition–A Case Study. Promet-Traffic&Transportation, 34, 79-90.
Maljaee, S. S. & Khadem Sameni, M. (2022), Investigating factors affecting university students' use of subway before and after COVID-19 outbreak: A case study in Tehran. Journal of Transport Geography, 103461.
Farshi, H., Shishebori, D. & Khadem Sameni, M. (2021), Criteria prioritisation of tourist satisfaction from long-distance transportation services: combined fuzzy AHP and SERVQUAL approach. International Journal of Management and Decision Making, 20, 263-281.
Khadem Sameni, M., Tilenoie, A. B. & Dini, N. (2021), Will modal shift occur from subway to other modes of transportation in the post-corona world in developing countries? Transport policy, 111, 82-89.
Khadem Sameni, M. & Tilenoie, A. B. (2020), How Priorities of Men and Women for Choosing Railway Transportation Differ?: A Case Study. Transportation Research Procedia, 48, 3062-3069.
Khadem Sameni, M., Preston, J. & Sameni, M. K. (2016), Evaluating efficiency of passenger railway stations: A DEA approach. Research in transportation business & management, 20, 33-38.
Khadem Sameni, M. & Preston, J. M. (2012), Value for railway capacity: assessing efficiency of operators in Great Britain. Transportation Research Record, 2289, 134-144.

View all publications in research portal