Congratulations to i-SURF’s International Advisory Board Chairman
Many Congratulations to Dr. Sakdirat Kaewunruen, from University of Birmingham, and Chair of the international Advisory Board of SIT’s Shanghai International Research Centre for Sustainable Urbanization and Resilient Future (i-SURF). Dr. Kaewunruen has been ranked in the World Top 2% Scientist by Elsevier and Stanford University. In fact, he is ranked 73rd (no self-citation) in the World Top 100 (and UK Top 5) in Civil Engineering Field.
Dr. Kaewunruen has been appointed by SIT President, Prof. Xiaofan Wang, as the Chairman of the newly launched Shanghai International Research Centre for Sustainable Urbanization and Resilient Future (i-SURF) since November 2024. He is also a member of the International Exchange Committee of Royal Society UK. Dr. Kaewunruen has demonstrated strong leadership and technical authority in the field. He is a member of the management committees for EU COST Actions (CircularB and Eco4ALL), funded by European Cooperation for Science and Technology. He has actively served on engineering expert and assessment panels for many research councils across the globe (i.e. UK, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Norway, Poland, UAE, Qatar, Hong Kong, Romania, Saudi Arabia, The Netherlands, and European Commission).
Dr. Sakdirat Kaewunruen has extensive industry experience in the field of structural, civil and track engineering both in industry and in academia. With over 14 years in rail industry and regulatory environments prior to joining academia, he has wide variety of specialisations, including rail engineering, track design, track components, structural and geotechnical engineering, maintenance and construction.His professional work had involved many industry projects worth over £5billions and has supervised/participated in railway research projects worth over £13milions (in Australia, UK, Japan, USA, Sweden, China, Malaysia and Thailand). He has over 700 technical publications and evidence-based authoritative technical reports that help solve diverse industry challenges. His research outcomes have been fully translated into industry practices, guidelines, products and services, and standardisation. Dr. Kaewunruen is a member of ISO, CEN and BSI standard committees for railway sleepers (using concrete, plastic and composite materials) and recycling of rolling stocks. Also, he is a committee member of Concrete Society Midlands, Permanent Way Institution (PWI), and Transportation Research Board (TRB); and is Chief Editor of Frontiers in Transportation and Transit Systems.
Dr. Kaewunruen successfully coordinated and managed many research projects. Under his authentic and transformative leadership, his research and innovation projects have genuinely supported many industry sectors and stakeholders worldwide and received many European-level awards and recognitions including Frontiers’ Leadership Award (2023), TRA Vision Senior Researcher in Rails (2020), Japan Society for the Promotion of Sciences Symposium Scheme (2019), European Commission’s Innovation Radar (2018), to name a few. Based on his proven extensive expertise in both academia and industry, he has been appointed as a rail advisor to Thailand National Standard Development Program for Railway Products (such as railway concrete sleepers and fastening systems).
