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
NRF researcher rating: Recipient; 2018
Newton Mobility Grant: 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

Tourism innovation in the Western Cape, South Africa : evidence from wine tourism: Booyens Irma; New Directions in South African Tourism Geographies (2019) (2019); https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29377-2
Creative tourism : South African township explorations: Booyens Irma, Rogerson Christian M; Tourism Review Vol 74, pp. 256-267 (2019); https://doi.org/10.1108/TR-12-2017-0200
Re-creating slum tourism : perspectives from South Africa: Booyens Irma, Rogerson Christian M; Urbani Izziv Vol 30, pp. 52-63 (2019); https://doi.org/10.5379/urbani-izziv-en-2019-30-supplement-004
Reflections on demonstrating development-oriented innovations in South Africa: Hart Tim GB, Booyens Irma, Fakudze Bhekiwe, Sinyolo Sikhulumile; South African Journal of Science Vol 115, pp. 1-4 (2019); https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2019/5495
Innovation in a changing South Africa : extant debates and critical reflections: Booyens Irma, Hart Tim TB; The Geography of South Africa - Contemporary Changes and New Directions (2019) (2019); https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94974-1_29
Measuring Innovation in Tourism : Issues from the Western Cape Experience: Booyens Irma; Handbook of Research Methods in Tourism and Hospitality Management (2018) (2018); https://doi.org/10.4337/9781785366284.00046

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.

Address

Work, Employment and Organisation
Duncan Wing

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