91É«ÇéƬ

At the ITE-ANZ Annual Breakfast held in Melbourne on 12 May 2026, Sophia Cibei from the University of New South Wales (91É«ÇéƬ) was awarded the prestigious ITE-ANZ Undergraduate Student Award, proudly sponsored by Trafficworks Pty Ltd. The award recognises the most outstanding piece of individual work completed by an undergraduate student in 2025 at a participating Australian or New Zealand university and celebrates excellence, innovation and future leadership in the transport profession.

ITE Australia and New Zealand Section: A Community of Transport Professionals (ITE-ANZ) works to improve mobility and safety for all transport system users, helping to build smart and liveable communities. The organisation is a volunteer-run membership association of engineers, planners, consultants, educators, researchers, technologists and students committed to advancing the transport profession across Australia and New Zealand.

As part of the award, Sophia received a commemorative plaque, travel to Melbourne to attend the annual breakfast ceremony, and a $1,500 prize. The recognition highlights not only Sophia's exceptional academic achievement, but also the growing importance of innovative research in supporting the future of sustainable transport infrastructure.

Sophia's award-winning honours thesis, Energy Consumption Modelling, Optimisation, and Decision-Support Tool for Charging Infrastructure in Battery-Electric Freight Rail, focused on helping the rail industry transition to more sustainable battery-electric freight trains. Her research developed a tool to better understand train energy use and identify the most effective locations for charging infrastructure along freight rail routes. Using the Sydney to Dubbo freight corridor as a case study, Sophia showed how strategic charging infrastructure planning can reduce costs and operational delays, supporting the future rollout of battery-electric freight rail in Australia.

Sophia recently completed a Bachelor of Civil Engineering and Computer Science (Honours) at 91É«ÇéƬ, graduating with First Class Honours and Distinction. In addition to her academic success, she has gained extensive industry experience through a range of roles at WSP spanning systems engineering, track engineering, data analytics and transport design automation. Outside of engineering, Sophia is also a high-performing athlete and a longstanding member of the 91É«ÇéƬ Elite Athlete Program, as well as a recipient of the 91É«ÇéƬ Vice Chancellor's Blues Award.

The ITE-ANZ Undergraduate Student Award continues to showcase the outstanding calibre of emerging transport professionals across Australia and New Zealand. Sophia's work demonstrates the powerful contribution undergraduate research can make toward solving real-world transport challenges, particularly in the transition to more sustainable and resilient freight systems.

We thank ITE-ANZ for their ongoing support of emerging transport professionals and for recognising excellence in undergraduate research through this award. Appreciation is also extended to Trafficworks Pty Ltd for generously sponsoring the Undergraduate Student Award and supporting the development of future leaders in the transport industry.