November 9, 2021

Where are they now? Dr Huynh Nhat Nam

Dr Huynh Nhat Nam: researcher and lecturer at the Fulbright School of Public Policy Management at the Fulbright University in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

How did working at SMART help your subsequent career? 

Time flies! To think that it’s 10 years already! 

Although I left SMART in 2017 to work for Transport for NSW, and then return to Vietnam, in some ways, I feel I have never left. 

I am still involved with SMART, we are looking at the connectivity of public transport in Ho Chi Minh City. We link the timetable with GPS data from a box on the bus to gather data. 

I joined SMART at the very beginning in early 2010, and was the first academic appointment. I was working on a range of projects including the Rail Logistics Project for the Port Kembla Port Corporation. 

I am still in frequent contact with some of those original team – Rohan, Johan, Guillaume, Nagesh, Tom – and I’ve found that these are lasting friendships. 

Just recently I asked them to participate in a seminar series for the Young South East Asian Leaders Initiative. I invited Johan, Rohan and Hugh to give a lecture. The collaboration is ongoing, once part of Team SMART, you are always Team SMART.  

Any stories about your time at SMART? 

I remember the first project I did, looking at Rail Logistics for the Port Kembla Port Corporation. 

My co-researcher was Dr Guillaume Michal, and it was one hell of an experience. 

That work was new to both of us and we learned along the way – learning by doing. It was quite a learning curve for both of us. There were a lot of late nights but we pulled it off. 

It consolidated my belief that I have the capability to learn and do the job at the same time. If I could do that, I could do anything.