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Claudia Struwig is the first PhD candidate of the SSML, awarded her degree at the March 2016 Stellenbosch University Graduation Ceremony. Claudia has a background in Industrial Engineering, and continued her postgraduate studies through the Department of Civil Engineering at Stellenbosch University with a Masters and then PhD in Transportation Science with a particular focus on Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS).

Her PhD dissertation, titled: Management by Measurement –a Performance Management Approach for Assessing Intelligent Transport Systems Projects in South Africa, considered an all-encompassing performance measurement management framework and tool for assessment of transport technology projects. Particular focus was given to project conducted in the South African transport environment.

Current approaches for measuring the performance of projects are often modular and inconsistent, therefore not able to provide a holistic picture and true reflection of the project health.  Extensive verification and validation processes were performed within the context of the project life cycle, with specific attention to sustainable deployment in the developing country environment. She managed to combine and apply various seemingly unrelated and diverse research fields, coupled with multi-criteria decision-making principles, to establish a comprehensive performance measurement structure to enable continuous management and measurement of transport technology projects.

The method put forth, in the form of the envisioned performance management tool, can: 1) assist implementing agencies in obtaining the necessary knowledge to easily make day-to-day informed decisions regarding the (overall) performance of their respective systems; and 2) aid decision makers in the continuous assessment of their investment in transport technology.