Dr Irma Booyens

Senior 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

Back to staff profile

Area of Expertise

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

Prize 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

Back to staff profile

Publications

Path creation for an electricity transition in South African tourism: Booyens Irma, Hoogendoorn Gijsbert, Langerman Kristy, Rivett-Carnac Kate; Tourism Geographies Vol 26, pp. 194-213 (2024); https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2023.2274836
'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 Vol 34, pp. 4123-4141 (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)
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)
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

More publications

Teaching

Back to staff profile

Teaching

Tourism and business studies lecturing and supervision

Research

Back to staff profile

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.