Funding secured for honorary professors programme
Funding has been secured for the development of an innovative Honorary Professors Programme to be launched by the School of Tourism. Philanthropist, Mr Jim Whyte has committed $250 000 to the five year programme designed to attract four eminent research academics to work at the School of Tourism each year for a twelve week period over the next five years.
The honorary professors will continue their contract with the School for a further three years facilitating the establishment of an ongoing research relationship where School of Tourism academics will have the opportunity to visit honorary professors at their home institution. Travel expenses incurred in visiting the home institution of the honorary professors to continue collaborative research projects will be meet by the School.
“The results from the programme will be an increased number of A* and A publications as well as ARC grant funds”, Professor Ballantyne, Head, School of Tourism.
“This environment will foster strong and enduring research links between School staff at UQ with acknowledged research leaders and will develop research partnerships with other leading international institutions.”
The development of this programme is a response to the School Review which identified a need to expand formal mentoring processes and building internal research capacity and experience.
School of Tourism researchers sizzle
Articles written by School of Tourism researchers are in the Hottest 25 most downloaded articles from Science Direct, January-March 2009 edition. This achievement has been realised by four members of staff, Professor Roy Ballantyne, Dr Jan Packer, Dr Megan Axelsen and Dr Noel Scott for articles in Annals of Tourism Research and Tourism Management, both categorised as A* journals.
Similar accomplishments have also been achieved by Dr Steve Pike and Professor Don Getz. Steve Pike’s article on destination image studies is the third top cited article in Tourism Management*, while Don Getz’s classics are number 19, 28, 53 and 81 from the top 100 (*Harzing’s Publish or Perish).
The articles:
In 14th place
Ballantyne, R., Packer, J. and Axelsen, M., Trends in tourism research, Annals of Tourism Research, Volume 36, Issue 1, January 2009, Pages 149-152
In 15th place
Dwyer, L., Edwards, D., Mistilis, N., Roman, C. and Scott, N.,Destination and enterprise management for a tourism future,Tourism Management, Volume 30, Issue 1, February 2009, Pages 63-74
Pike, S.,Destination image analysis—a review of 142 papers from 1973 to 2000
Tourism Management, Volume 23, Issue 5, October 2002, Pages 541-549
Supporting excellence in professional development
In testimony to the commitment the School of Tourism has to the continuing development of strong industry ties was evidence by the sponsorship of the Professional Development Award at the 2009 Restaurant and Catering Brisbane Awards for Excellence. The award for excellence was won by Conrad Jupiter’s. Prof Roy Ballantyne and Industry and Government Partnerships Director Dr David Solnet attended the function on Monday 10th August at the Sofitel.
Professor Roy Ballantyne at the awards ceremony
BIHTM: A work in progress
The review of the Bachelor of International Hotel and Tourism Management (BIHTM) continues. Headed by Assoc. Professor Stephen Craig-Smith, the Learning Committee is currently developing a new set of aims and objectives for the programme. To date a review of similar programmes delivered at comparable intuitions and data collection have been commenced. The recommendations from the Learning Committee will be fed through to the School Leadership Team. It is expected that a draft document outlining the renewed BITHM degree will be provided to the BEL Faculty toward the end of 2010.
“Let’s do lunch”: recent meetings at the School of Tourism
Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Tourism Studies
Development of the proposal for the UQ School of Tourism based Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence was the focus for a series of meetings attended by Professor Roy Ballantyne and Dr Brent Ritchie on their recent trip to Canberra. Meetings included:
· Mr Vic Dobos, General Manager, Tourism Research Australia, Tourism Australia
· Ms Helen Cox, General Manager, Market Access Group Tourism Division, Federal Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism
· Mr Tim Quinn, Manager Research and Statistics Business Development Group, Federal Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism
· Dr Liz Jazwinska, Executive Director Australian Research Council
UQ Vice Chancellor and Minister
UQ Vice Chancellor, Prof Paul Greenfield, Executive Dean BEL Prof Tim Brailsford and Mr Ray Stevens, Queensland Shadow Minister for Tourism met at Customs House with Head of School Prof Roy Ballantyne to consider how the School of Tourism can assist in developing and conducting research projects that address tourism issues in Queensland.
Tourism Queensland
Discussions with Tourism Queensland centred on the goal of developing opportunities for collaborative research projects between the School of Tourism and Tourism Queensland. Attendees at the meeting included Anthony Hayes, Chief Executive Officer of Tourism Queensland and Adjunct Professor of the School of Tourism and Executive Director Strategic Services Tourism Queensland, Leanne Coddington.
Latin America Reference Group
Dr David Solnet has been appointed as the BEL faculty representative on the Latin American Reference Group (LARG). The reference group was established by the University as a response to the UQ Internationalisation Plan 2005 to 2009 that identified Latin America as a priority region for the establishment of research links and a source of international students.
Keeping it simple: the Three Minute Thesis Competition
School of Tourism entrants in this year’s Three(3) Minute Thesis Competition, Miss Char-lee McLennan Mr Nigel Bond and Mr Brett Walker, will be speaking in plain English as they outline the essence of their respective theses’ to the BEL Faulty. Ms Karen Hughes from the School was a finalist in the inaugural 2008 competition.
Char-lee will present a condensed version of her thesis titled, The Tourism Transformation Process: An enquiry into the three main process phases. Nigel has recently returned from collecting data in England, will summarize his thesis title, Exploring the Centre: Contemporary pilgrimage and its significance and implications for religious tourism management. Flexible delivery in Australian hospitality management degrees: Perceptions of students and educators will be the title of Brett’s three minute thesis topic.
Nigel Bond’s pilgrim research in Glastonbury
The competition is restricted to research higher degree students. Competitors are required within three minutes to give an engaging and dynamic response to the question “So, how’s your thesis going?” or “What are you researching?” In 2008 The University of Queensland organised the inaugural competition with 160 competitors.
Timeframe for the competition
- By Sept 8: School/Institute heats to choose entrants for Faculty Finals (1 or 2 each) - organised at School/Institute level
- By Sept 15: Faculty semi-finals - organised by each Faculty and combined Institutes
- Sept 22: University final (8 competitors) - organised by Graduate School: venue and time to be announced
- By Sept 25: Research Week Industry Dinner at Customs House: winner and runner-up to present their Three Minute Thesis (date to be confirmed)
We wish Char-lee, Nigel and Brett good luck in the competition. May the force be with you…
A taste of hospitality
Drinking at university is usually confined to outside the classroom, but more than 100 second and third-year School of Tourism students had the opportunity to sample a range of wines from Queensland icon Sirromet as part of their course. The tasting held as part of the School of Tourism’s Food and Beverage Management (HOSP3003) course, aimed to give students an insight into one of the state’s leading wine producers.
Drinking at university is usually confined to outside the classroom, but more than 100 second and third-year School of Tourism students had the opportunity to sample a range of wines from Queensland icon Sirromet as part of their course.
The tasting, held as part of the University of Queensland School of Tourism’s Food and Beverage Management course, aimed to give students an insight into one of the state’s leading wine producers.
School of Tourism Industry Partnerships Manager Richard Robinson said the event was one of many offered during the course that assisted the students in gaining some fundamental knowledge of product.
“Linking students with real-world experiences is vitally important – it reinforces their academic learning and allows them to put themselves in the place of the consumer,” Mr Robinson said.
“Our partnership with Sirromet aims to showcase local regional wineries while at the same time benefitting Sirromet be literally putting their wines under the noses of the next generation of wine aficionados.”
Student Elaine Young said gaining practical knowledge that could be used in the workplace was invaluable.
“This course is great because it’s not a traditional lecture of students sitting and looking at a PowerPoint,” Ms Young said.
“We get hands-on, practical experience, which the majority of other courses do not offer.”
Fellow student Oren Tony said the opportunity to sample Australian wines was particularly useful.
“We learnt and applied the techniques used in identifying the properties of wine,” Mr Tony said.
“Because I work in the industry, having a greater understanding of what’s involved in the making of the wine allows me to provide a better service to my customers.”
Mr Robinson said students sampled Sirromet '820 Above' Pinot Gris 2009, Sirromet 'Seven Scenes' Chardonnay 2008, Sirromet 'Seven Scenes' Merlot 2006 and Sirromet '820 Above' Shiraz 2006.
Student David Hinrichsen is looking forward to applying his learning outside the classroom.
“The practical skills taught in this course have a real impact on our future careers,” he said.
Sheryl Chua Yihui said comparing different white wines and different reds was interesting – as was the reaction from her classmates.
“Sirromet graciously provided us with a terrific way to learn more about the different types of wines by using our tastebuds instead of just reading from a textbook,” Ms Yihui said.
“The experience showed wine is really up to personal preference.”
The School of Tourism’s Food and Beverage Management course introduces students to the core principles and practices of food and beverage management systems.
Mr Robinson said it was crucial that as part of the course students had access to practical experiences that allowed them to gain a real insight into the industry.
“Together with accommodation, food and beverage is the defining feature of the hospitality industry,” Mr Robinson said.
“The course develops students’ understanding of food and beverage services from a ‘big picture’ or strategic perspective.”
Luxury at what cost
A three year research project undertaken by School of Tourism, Senior Lecturer, Dr Charles Arcodia into water and energy consumption and water disposal in the hotel industry reveals that Australian hotels were among the top five energy users in the commercial and service sector. The ramifications of such high levels of consumption will have an impact upon operators and tourists.
