The title of SBM ITB as one of the best business schools in Indonesia cannot be separated from the superior quality of its civitas. One of the qualified teachers from this school is Prawira Fajarindra Belgiawan, S.T., M. Eng., Ph.D.
Prawira recently received an award from the Vice Chancellor for Research, Innovation and Partnerships of ITB as the 10 Young Lecturers with the most Q1 Publications in the 2019–2022 period. Prawira is an assistant professor of SBM ITB who is part of the Business Strategy and Marketing Expertise Group (KK BSM) with a primary research interest in discrete choice models in travel and marketing behavior.
Prawira’s journey before joining the KK BSM SBM ITB was quite long. After graduating from undergraduate of Planology at ITB, Prawira continued his master’s and doctoral studies at Kyoto University.
At that time, according to his interest in transportation planning, Prawira studied under a professor who worked in the Department of Urban Management. Although incorporated in the civil engineering domain, Prawira’s study focuses more on human behavior in travel behavior, such as the use of the theory of plan behavior, purchase intention and also the choice modeling.
After completing his doctoral degree, Prawira moved to the Institute for Transport Planning and Transport System, ETH Zurich, Switzerland. While at ETH Zurich, Prawira met a professor from the Institute for Transport and Logistic Studies, the University of Sydney.
Interestingly, the institute is not in the civil engineering domain, but in a business school (The University of Sydney Business School). The professor said because transportation planning is more about studying human behavior, not about building roads or bridges.
“Science in transportation planning is closely related to marketing, about how we transfer private vehicle users to public transportation,” said Prawira.
The method, said Prawira, is to offer a value that can make people switch from private vehicles to public transportation. Transportation planning is also about how we analyze human behavior.
“Therefore, when SBM opened a vacancy, I entered the BSM KK because my research focus, travel behavior, was included in the marketing domain,” Prawira explained.
His decision to join KK BSM turned out to be very fitting. Prawira claimed to have full support from his colleagues in the BSM KK, the KK Chair, to the ITB SBM as a whole. Prawira are free to do research and contribute to the BSM KK. These supports also open up opportunities for him to collaborate and conduct research across expertise group, across faculties, and even across universities.
“I regularly collaborate on research in the field of transportation with Dr. Yos Sunitiyoso (decision-making and strategic negotiation expertise group),” said Prawira. “Recently, we learned about the public acceptance and environmental impact of electric bus service (BRT).”
Prawira also collaborates by researching public policy with Yudo Anggoro, a knowledge and human management expertise group. Their research is about logistics in the pandemic era.
“I also write a lot of papers on consumer behavior, but what I really focus on is transport,” said Prawira. “Because of its interdisciplinary nature, I often invite colleagues from other faculties, such as my collaboration with several lecturers from SAPPK ITB, ITS Management, and my colleagues at UGM in my research on travel behavior.”
Prawira hopes that, in the future, SBM ITB can establish a research center on travel behavior. According to him, with a reliable transportation planner like Dr. Yos Sunitiyoso, Eko Agus Prasetio, S.T., MBA, Dr.rer.pol., SBM ITB are capable enough to build the study center.
“So, when the public needs a new perspective in travel behavior, they can look for it at ITB, specifically at SBM.”