As a Senior Consultant and Data Science practitioner in the Strategic Consultancy team at AECOM, I’m very familiar with numbers. My team analyses data to change or drive modifications to UK standards in the fields of road asset management, road safety, and pavement engineering. I've also been involved with CIHT East Midlands for three years, currently covering the position of honorary secretary within the regional committee.

There is one sequence of numbers from this year that will always be important to me, which is the date of my wedding earlier this year. Beyond that, however, my top five professional achievements in 2022 are: 

1 The number of technical papers presented this year, to the World Road Association (PIARC) conference on winter maintenance. The paper was very well-received, and there are ongoing conversations on how to follow up on that work.

2 The number of conferences I attended this year. The first was the PIARC conference, where we presented our paper, while the other one was the Cold Comfort conference, which covers winter maintenance and severe weather, and also touched on climate change this year. Cold Comfort in particular was memorable because it was my first opportunity to meet friends and colleagues in person, after two years of strict pandemic counter measures.

3 The number of new team members we’ve taken on this year. It's good to see the team growing as we get more opportunities and all three are graduates. Matt Causon works in road asset management; Mark Robinson performs socio-economic benefits analyses; and Michael Vincent works on road safety related projects.

4 The number of CPD events I’ve organised this year. One was with Gaist, smart data providers in the area of road asset management. They gather vehicle telematics data to inform road asset management and road safety strategies. Another was at Nottingham Trent University with future graduates, future professionals in the field, to explain the importance of engaging with professional institutions, both for their immediate career opportunities, but also for their future professional development. The third was at the annual conference of CIHT East Midlands, about major transportation projects around the region, touching on HS2, the need for local authorities to move towards net zero and sustainability challenges. The fourth one was the CIHT Young Professional conference, to inspire future generations of professionals who have just joined the institution as members. The aim was to show them how what they learned at university is applied in practice.

5 The number of projects completed this year. Two involved severe weather research and development tasks developed for National Highways and Transport Scotland, looking at various environmental sensor stations and different technologies, which inform winter maintenance decision making. Then there was the socio-economic benefits analysis linked to pavement key performance indicators for National Highways. Another project for National Highways was linked to vehicle telematics data for road friction performance investigation. And last is the low-rolling resistance project where we looked at fuel efficiency and the portion of fuel that is consumed due to poor road surface conditions.

Why would I recommend CIHT membership? CIHT, which has been central to much that I’ve achieved this year, gives experts, suppliers and clients a unique platform where they can network, exchange ideas and highlight current and future challenges.

Dr Federico Perrotta was in conversation with Craig Thomas

Keep an eye out for Dr Perrotta’s colleague at AECOM, Matthew Wainwright in 2023’s first issue of Transportation Professional on the subject of severe weather. Catch up on back issues of the magazine in 2022 here.

Dr Federico Perrotta, Senior Consultant, Strategic Consultancy, Roads, EUR - UK & Ireland, AECOM