UQ Business School tourism experts are leading the way in tourism and hospitality exploration, thanks to the acquisition of numerous national highly competitive research grants.
Over the past three years UQ Business School tourism academics have successfully attained over $1.7million in funding in the form of Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage and Discovery grants, as well as grants from the Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT).
The grant programs support innovation and development, excellent basic and applied research, acquiring new knowledge, and international collaboration.
UQ Business School Tourism Cluster Leader, Associate Professor David Solnet said that these grants reiterate the continued success of the tourism cluster.
“Our tourism researchers continue to demonstrate national and global leadership through a continued stream of high level publications and consistent success in winning highly competitive research grants.
“It is a privilege to work with this talented group of highly motivated, world-class academics who aim to make a difference,” he said.
The following projects receiving funding are:
Associate Professor Pierre Benckendorff and Dr Richard Robinson are part of a team led by Griffith University which secured a 2015 Office of Learning and Teaching (OLT) grant of $273,000 on “Enhancing student employability skills through virtual field trips in the hospitality industry”
Professor Roy Ballantyne, Dr Jan Packer, and Dr Karen Hughes were successful with a UQ led 2015 ARC Linkage grant on the educational value of zoos which has secured $236,822 with a number of zoos across the world.
Professor Sara Dolnicar and Associate Professor Brent Ritchie were successful with a UQ led 2015 ARC Linkage grant to segment and better communicate carbon offsetting to consumers. This secured $160,000.
Professor Sara Dolnicar is part of a 2015 ARC Linkage grant led by the University of Wollongong on “Consumer value and the national disability insurance scheme”. Caresouth and Catholicare are partners and they secured $326,506
Associate Professor Brent Ritchie is part of a 2015 ARC Discovery grant led by UQ on “Consumer preferences for voluntary carbon mitigation in the aviation sector” for $186,400
Dr Jan Packer, Professor Roy Ballantyne were part of a 2013 ARC Discovery grant led by UQ on “Being Australian: Exploring the role of ANZAC museum and heritage experiences in developing visitors’ national identity. They secured $221,196
Professor Sara Dolnicar was part of a UQ led 2013 ARC Linkage grant on “Better destination image data through lower cognitive load measures” and who secured $150,000
Professor Roy Ballantyne, Dr Jan Packer on a UQ led 2012 ARC Linkage grant on “Developing post-visit action resources to facilitate zoo visitors’ adoption of environmentally sustainable behaviours”. They secured $151,448