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Business and Tourism

We have world-leading research in Business and Tourism, including the Centre for Research in Tourism Excellence (CERTE) and cutting-edge knowledge in the areas of Productivity and Innovation.

Research areas

Research Centre for Management Learning and Business Education

The Research Centre for Management Learning and Business Education is an inclusive research environment for scholars, researchers, early career researchers, members of the PhD community and students whose research and scholarship are located within Management Learning and Business Education.

The purpose of the Centre is to drive a research environment and support members to produce high-quality research outputs, to engage with, and to share research and scholarship. The two areas of the Research Centre are:

  • Management learning: including leadership and management development approaches; coaching; professional development; reflexivity; creativity and innovation in management learning; developing resilient and agile managers; internationalisation of management learning across cultures

  • Business education: including business pedagogies; creative approaches to learning and teaching; online and hybrid approaches; digital business education; the student experience; student as partners; collaborative approaches to business education; inclusive business education practices; work-based learning, experiential learning; internationalisation of business education.

 

The Research Centre has three key areas of activity aided by Visiting Professor, Professor Heather McGregor, Executive Dean, Edinburgh Business School, Heriot Watt University, and Visiting Fellow, Dr Frances-Lesley McGregor, Huddersfield Business School.

The Research Centre offers a Business Educator Working Paper Series:

  • Business Educator Working Paper Series

The purpose of this working paper series is to provide a peer-reviewed approach to support the development of high-quality outputs from research in Management Learning and Business Education.

  • Writing Cafes and Writing Retreats

The purpose is to provide members with a facility to prepare high-quality research outputs with a facilitator but also to share challenges of the writing process and to support one another to produce Working Papers and high-quality outputs published externally.

  • Research Seminars

The seminars offer an opportunity for researchers including Colleagues new to research to share own research and experience the research led by others to foster sharing good practice and to encourage writing up research for the ‘Business Educator’ Working Paper Series.

The Centre for Research in Tourism Excellence (CERTE)

Tourism is the third largest economic activity worldwide in direct earnings (after the petroleum and automobile industries), and the largest if we also estimate its indirect financial impact. The changing dynamics of tourism, hospitality and events both locally and globally, to the potential for peripheral and national development, highlight the importance of high-quality research in the field.

Etymology

CERTE was established in 2017 and has already engaged in numerous activities and projects. Etymologically, ‘certe’ is a Latin word with a dual meaning. Firstly, it means ‘events’, which is one of the three pillars of the centre. ‘Certe’ also means ‘certainty’, which is what research generates and challenges.

We are proud members of the Association of Tourism, Hospitality and Events Networks in Academia, an international research association of tourism-related research centres/institutes around the world. This membership provides us with research collaboration opportunities, including co-organisation of research events, high-quality publications, and research projects.

At the heart of Hospitality, Events, Aviation and Tourism (HEAT) we encourage knowledge generation through research implementation. We are dedicated to employing applied and academic research in tourism, hospitality and events and also aim to impact the generation of knowledge as well as its application in the industry. Alongside this, we operate as a platform for research-led teaching and the provision of better education and knowledge dissemination.

The main areas of our research focus are:

  • Transport, aviation, lifestyle and travel mobilities
  • Applied theories and philosophies
  • Culture, heritage and creative industries
  • Policy, planning and sustainable development
  • e-tourism, e-marketing and ICT
  • Risk and crisis management 
  • Operations and management
  • Marketing and formulation of competitive advantage
  • Corporate social responsibility
  • Human resources management
  • Service quality
  • Event and festival experiences
  • Alternative events
  • Event impacts in locality