Dr Irma Booyens

Lecturer

Work, Employment and Organisation

Personal statement

I am a lecturer in the Work, Employment and Organisation department, mostly on our tourism and hospitality courses. Tourism is one of my key research interests which I have approached from the theoretical frameworks of human geography, development studies, tourism management and innovation studies.

Before joining the Strathclyde Business School, I was a Senior Research Specialist in the Economic Planning and Development unit at the Human Sciences Research Council in Cape Town where I worked on a range of projects with policy impact. I also have experience as a tourism and business studies lecturer and as a consultancy researcher.

I am affiliated as an associate researcher with the School of Tourism and Hospitality at the Univeristy of Johannesburg, South Africa, where I held a post-doc position and also completed my PhD.

Expertise

Has expertise in:

I understand the research process well and have been involved at all of its stages from conceptualization and proposal writing to research design, supervision; and co-supervision of various projects; collaboration on large national projects/ studies; data collection (primary and secondary), data analysis, synthesis and interpretation; report writing and dissemination.

Futher areas of expertise are:

- Mixed method research

- Project management

- Policy and/ strategy formulation

- National surveys

- Indicator development

Prizes and awards

TWAS/DFG Collaborative Visit Grant: Recipient; 2019
Newton Mobility Grant: Recipient; 2018
NRF researcher rating: Recipient; 2018
Scarce Skills Doctoral Scholarship: Recipient; 2012
Young researcher excellence award: Recipient; 2010
Best student in course work: Masters in Development Studies: Recipient; 2008

More prizes and awards

Qualifications

PhD Geography, University of Johannesburg, 2015

Masters in Development Studies, University of the Free State, 2008

Post-graduate Certificate in Education, University of Pretoria, 2002

B.Com Tourism Management, University of Pretoria, 2000

Publications

'It's not a big deal' : customer misbehaviour and social washing in hospitality: Booyens Irma, Hadjisolomou Anastasios, Nickson Dennis, Cunningham Tayler, Baum Tom; International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management (2022); https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-10-2021-1310
Introduction : innovation for tourism sustainability: Booyens Irma, Brouder Patrick; Handbook of Innovation for Sustainable Tourism (2022) (2022)
Tourism development impacts : an appraisal of workplace issues, labour and human development: Booyens Irma; Handbook of Tourism Impacts : Social and Environmental Considerations (2022) (2022); https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800377684.00025
Social innovation for sustainable tourism development: Booyens Irma; Handbook of Innovation for Sustainable Tourism (2022) (2022)
Handbook of Innovation for Sustainable Tourism: Booyens Irma, Brouder Patrick; Research Handbooks in Tourism Research Handbooks in Tourism (2022)
Urban crime and tourism : visitor perceptions vis-à-vis tourist spaces in Johannesburg: Malleka Thabisile, Booyens Irma, Hoogendoorn Gijsbert; African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure Vol 11, pp. 46-59 (2022); https://doi.org/10.46222/ajhtl.19770720.210

More publications

Teaching

Tourism and business studies lecturing and supervision

Research interests

My research interests include local and regional economic development and planning; social innovation; innovation measurement; tourism innovation; tourism sustainability; tourism livelihoods, employment and workplace issues; creative industries - employment and spatial perspectives.

Projects

Confronting customer abuse and harassment during the Covid-19 crisis? Evidence from Scotland’s hospitality industry: Hadjisolomou, Tasos (Principal Investigator) Baum, Thomas (Co-investigator) Booyens, Irma (Co-investigator) Nickson, Dennis (Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2021 - 31-Jan-2022

More projects

Address

Work, Employment and Organisation
Duncan Wing

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