PhD - Year of Graduation: Target 2012

Elisa's PhD explores the residents' perceptions toward volunteer tourism and its impacts on hosts' lives. So forth, most of the studies in this area have been focused on the volunteer tourists and on their motivational factors. Therefore, this project will examine all the dynamics which characterise and influence the whole volunteer tourism process. Hence, even if the main attention will be focused on the volunteers-voluntoured encounter, there are significant phases in the middle which have to be analysed. It will be relevant to understand how hosts' perceive volunteers through a mediation process which can be influential on their attitudes and behaviours. As volunteer tourism is a relatively new type of tourism, it is required a deeper analysis and a better understanding of this phenomenon in order to make it more beneficial both for guests and hosts. Elisa graduated in 2004 in Modern Languages at the University of Pisa and in December 2007 completed an international MA in Tourism Management. After finishing the Masters course she worked for an Italian Tour Operator.

PhD - Year of Graduation: 2009

Fernando Correia has graduated in Biology in 1997 and in 2002 has completed a MSc in Ecology, both degrees from the University of Coimbra, Portugal. Fernando has a professional background on local sustainable development and environmental education, having worked for 4 years (2000-4) on a regional non-governmental organization for development in Portugal. His main research interests are the role of nature-based tourism as a sustainable development tool and that’s why he chose to study the “European Charter for Sustainable Development”, from Europarc Federation.

His PhD assessed the effectiveness of the Charter in implementing sustainable tourism’s principles inside European protected areas and to identify the determinant variables for a successful implementation of such principles. His research built a sustainable tourism indicators’ framework for the context of protected areas, and on the study of collaborative approaches developed between parks’ authorities and tourism stakeholders. During his research he contributed to writing a sustainable tourism development strategy for Quirimbas National Park, Mozambique, for WWF Mozambique as part of an ICRT team. Fernando now works at the University of Exeter, UK.

PhD - Year of Graduation: Target 2010

Louise holds a Mphil. in Environment and Development from Cambridge University (1997) and a BA (Hons.) in Geography from Liverpool University (1992). She has ten years international experience in tourism, mostly in community-based tourism development. She has worked in East and Southern Africa (Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, Namibia, Mozambique) and the Caribbean. Clients have included the British Airways (BA) Environment Programme and British Airways Holidays (BAH), European Union (EU), United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Africa Safari Lodge (ASL) Programme.

Louise began her PhD in January 2007 and is researching the developmental consequences of business associations for small enterprises and the informally employed in tourism in Africa. She is examining the internal and external factors that have affected the dynamics and outcomes of collective action by the Association of Small-Scale Enterprises in Tourism (ASSET) in The Gambia and how the organization has influenced local economic development and policy-making. Publications: Holland, J., Burian M. and Dixey, L. (2003) Tourism in Poor Rural Areas: Diversifying the Product and Dispersing the Benefits in Rural Uganda and the Czech Republic. Overseas Development Institute (ODI) Pro-Poor Tourism Papers 2. London: ODI. www.propoortourism.org.uk/12_rural_areas.pdf and Dixey, L. (2008) ‘The Unsustainability of Community Tourism Donor Projects: Lessons from Zambia,’ in Spenceley, A. (ed) Responsible Tourism: Critical Issues for Conservation and Development, London: Earthscan.

PhD - Year of Graduation: 2010

After completing his BA and M.Sc in hospitailty and tourism from Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt, the university employed him as teaching assistant. He went on to win a competitive scholarship from the Egyptian government to study for a PhD in Environmental responsibility in Egypt’s hospitality industry. His main interest is to study how the environmental agenda has influenced the hospitality industry in Egypt. In particular, resort hotels in the Red Sea and Sinai. He has examined the behaviour of hospitality marketing towards the natural environment and how hospitality marketers integrate environmental issues into marketing and management strategies.

From this he has developed typologies of behaviour and theorise on the reasons, meanings and purposes of such behaviour. A framework for analysis the different typologies of environmental marketing strategies in the hospitality operations was used and further tested through a detailed survey and case studies. During this studies Mohammed has participated in consultancy for EURAid to develop a sustainable tourism development strategy for South Sinai, as part of a team from PA Consulting.

PhD - Year of Graduation: Target 2012

Nicole Häusler holds a Magister Artium (M.A.) in Social Anthropology and Communication (1992) from the University of Göttingen, Germany.

She works since more than nine years as Responsible Tourism Consultant focusing on Tourism Management in Protected Areas, Tourism & Poverty Reduction and Community-based Tourism. Nicole has worked in Asia, Europe and South America as long-term and short-term consultant for international development agencies. She is a visiting lecturer in Sustainable Tourism at the Universities of Applied Sciences in Eberswalde and Bremen (Master Programmes).

Nicole began her PhD in October 2008. The aim of her PhD is to develop an applicable methodology for short-time case study research investigating the benefits of tourism for poverty reduction at micro level in developing countries. This involves attention to matters of research design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, and reporting. It will also acknowledge the various aspects of contextual factors which may affect this type of research in the ‘real world’, such as time constraints, intercultural dimensions, and organizational challenges.

Publications in: Trialog 79, 4/2003: The Complexity of Multi-Stakeholder Dialog in Ecotourism – The example of Southeast Asia. Beyer, M. / Häusler, N. / Strasdas, W (2007): Tourism as a Field of Activity in German Development Cooperation. A Basic Overview, Priority Areas for Action and Strategic Recommendations, Eschborn, 2007. In: Caesar D’Mello (Ed.): The challenges in a Success Story – Posada Amazonas, Peru: a joint venture between tour operator and a local community. Chiang Mai, 2008.

PhD - Year of Graduation: Target 2010

Ko Koens has been involved in sustainable tourism for over 5 years. He holds a MA in Environmental studies (2003) and a MSc in Social Pyschology (2004), both from Utrecht University, the Netherlands. After finishing his studies he worked as sustainable (tourism) researcher and communication consultant.The main goal of his PhD, which started in 2007, is to explore systematically to what extent (pro-poor) tourism initiatives can be structurally integrated into local and global tourism networks.

At the moment the lack of integration of local tourism products and initiatives can negatively impact the potential beneficial impact of (pro-poor) tourism. The research helps reveal problems and challenges in a practical and multidisciplinary way by focussing. In this way it will assist in the understanding of convergences or divergences of tourism networks.Publications: Koens, J.F., Miranda, M.A., Dieperink, C. (forthcoming), Ecotourism as a development strategy; experiences from Costa Rica. Environment, development and Sustainability.Conference paper: Koens, J.F. (2006) The Influence of Social Capital on the Tourism Industry. Conference on Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Pretoria, 2-3 October, 2006

PhD - Year of Graduation: Target 2011

Marianna Kornilaki studied at Bradford College for a HND in International Travel and Tourism Management before joining the BA (Hons) Managing International Tourism course at Leeds Metropolitan University. Her undergraduate research focused on sustainable development undertaken by tour operators in terms of their supply chains and the co-operation with the destination and she graduated in 2003 with a first class degree.

Her postgraduate research will develop a conceptual framework to investigate the attitudes and the responses of the small- and medium-sized tourism enterprises (SMTEs) in Crete to the challenges of sustainable tourism. The research aims to offer an understanding and explanation of the behaviour of SMTEs to sustainability, and identify the challenges they experience in their attempts to implement sustainable practices in their everyday operations. The findings will help public authorities, non-governmental organisations and tourism suppliers such as tour operators to understand the needs of small- and medium-sized companies and to encourage them to work together towards achieving sustainable tourism development.

PhD - Year of Graduation: Target 2010

Adam Richardson has enjoyed extensive experience within tourism having worked across North America, Europe, Asia and The Middle East in the fields of Adventure Tourism, Educational Tourism and mainstream Tour Operations. These years of hands-on experience have given Adam a unique insight into a wide range of tourism markets in both developed and developing countries. Academically, Adam has a strong background in economics, holding a BA (Hons) Economics with German from The University of Nottingham (2003) with particular focus on game theoretic modelling. Extended placements within accountancy and market research, along with 18 months corporate experience with a Danish multinational company, have given Adam a well-rounded understanding the major issues facing modern corporations. Adam is in the first year of his PhD which focuses on ethical consumerism and its applications within the field of tourism. The research looks at consumer motivation in purchasing tourism products from tour operators with a strong alignment with Responsible Tourism principles, as well as investigating the on-tour experience and how it impacts on future purchasing decisions.

PhD - Year of Graduation: 2009

Ana Rita Sampaio has a degree in Environmental Engineering from Faculty of Science and Technology of New University of Lisbon, Portugal. After the degree, Ana enrolled on a professional internship, promoted by the Nature Conservation Agency (Portugal), where was responsible to make a report on Sustainable Indicators for Protected Areas. Her professional background is on environmental consultancy (2001 2004) in a environmental consultancy company, where was responsible for the implementation and management of the company’s Quality Management System (ISO 9001:2000) and for the development of Environmental Impact Reports, Monitoring Projects and Strategic Evaluation Studies.

Ana’s PhD examined the reasons why small firms in tourism exhibit different levels of environmental engagement.  Drawing on theories of motivation, notably Social Cognitive Theory, Motivation Systems Theory and Goal Orientation Theory, as well as literature on environmental sensitivity, she proposed a novel conceptual framework that is subsequently used to inform an empirical study of small businesses participate in the Green Tourism Busines Scheme.  The findings suggested that varying levels of environmental engagement may be explained by differences in worldviews, levels of self‑efficacy beliefs, context beliefs and goal orientation.

PhD - Year of Graduation: 2008

Karen Schwartz is teacher at Nottingham University, after studying for her PhD for three years and doing consultancy as part of the Tourlink project (EU LIFE funding). This gives her research a practical, industry-based focus, while also developing theoretical understanding. Her PhD examined how tour operators can work with suppliers to improve environmental, economic and socio-cultural performance. This is known as ‘sustainable supplier development’ and is a key component of corporate social responsibility practices.

Tour operators use a wide variety of suppliers including accommodation, transport, excursion, ground handlers, and food and craft. The entire supply chain needs to be managed to serve the business interests of operators and wider stakeholder interests. Her PhD provided understanding of how tour operators are working with suppliers for sustainability, and the challenges and opportunities faced in developing these initiatives in the future.

PUBLICATIONS: Schwartz, K., Tapper, R, Font, X. (2008) A framework for sustainable supply chain management in tour operations, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 16(3) 298-314, and Font, X., Tapper, R., Schwartz, K. and Kornilaki, M. (2008) Sustainable supply chain management in tourism, Business Strategy and the Environment, 17, 260-271

PhD - Year of Graduation: 2002

Anna’s doctoral research saw the development the Sustainable Nature-Based Tourism Assessment Toolkit (SUNTAT) – designed to address the environmental, socio-cultural and economic sustainability of nature-based tourism enterprises. Since then she has published extensively and conducted varied consultancy projects mostly in Southern Africa.

PhD - Year of Graduation: 1997

Dr Matt Walpole is Programme Co-ordinator, Biodiversity and Human Needs at Fauna & Flora International in Cambridge. His PhD thesis (1994-1997) was a model, multidisciplinary study of tourism in Komodo National Park, Indonesia, that contributed to the development of DFID’s stakeholder guidelines for nature-based tourism. Matt completed his PhD as part of the Tourism, Conservation and Sustainable Development research project directed by Harold Goodwin at the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology at the University of Kent.

Matt subsequently worked as a project manager and consultant on a range of international projects that seek to integrated conservation and local development through tourism, using a process of research, capacity-building and implementation as a senior research associate based at the University of Kent. Specialising in nature-based tourism as a tool for biodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation, his work over the past decade has focused on a range of tropical developing countries in Africa and Asia.