Top marks

MSc Transport and Planning student, Orla Lenehan, has been recognised for her outstanding academic performance.

Orla achieved the highest mark for the taught component of the Master’s programme and was congratulated warmly by Programme Director Dr Dimitris Potoglou.

He said: “Orla has achieved an excellent result for the taught element of our Transport and Planning programme and it is thoroughly deserved. She has shown great ability and perseverance, working incredibly hard and engaging thoughtfully and creatively with the content. I wish her continued success as she turns her attention to her dissertation.”

Orla was gifted with a copy of Emeritus Professor Huw Williams’s award-winning book Forecasting Urban Travel Past, Present and Future, which recently scooped The William Alonso Memorial Prize for Innovative Work in Regional Science.

Dr Potoglou added: “I’d like to thank Professor Williams for kindly donating a copy of his excellent, agenda-setting book to be given as a prize, and for supporting our students and their development.”

Following the presentation, Orla said: “My interest in transport began at a young age and manifested itself in a curiosity regarding bus routes and train destinations. My ambition now is to contribute to the planning, management and policy development of transport systems within the UK and to help innovate and create the systems of future.”

Orla graduated with a BSc in Geography from Aberystwyth University in 2016. She received the Brian Large Bursary from the Brian Large Bursary Fund in 2018 to pursue her postgraduate studies at Cardiff University. She has recently secured a position as a Graduate Transport Planner with Arcadis, a design and consultancy company based in Cardiff.

Last year’s best performing student, Rongqui Song, has recently been awarded Cardiff University’s China Research Scholarship and will be returning to the School of Geography and Planning in October 2019 to pursue PhD study with Dr Potoglou.