Dr Irma Booyens

Senior Lecturer

Work, Employment and Organisation

Contact

Personal statement

I am a Senior Lecturer (equivalent to Associate Professor) 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 various 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 University of Johannesburg, South Africa, where I held a post-doc position and also completed my PhD.

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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

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Teaching

Tourism and business studies lecturing and supervision

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Research Interests

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

Professional Activities

Enhancing Hospitality Workplace Culture in Scotland
Speaker
2024
Addressing Sexual Harassment in the Hospitality Industry
Organiser
2024
Tourism Geographies (Journal)
Editorial board member
2024
Innovation for Tourism Sustainability: A Focus on Social Innovation
Speaker
2024
ATLAS Annual Conference 2023
Speaker
2023
Frontiers in Sustainable Tourism (Journal)
Editorial board member
2023

More professional activities

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
Artist mobilities, work and careers in South Africa
Booyens, Irma (Principal Investigator)
Collaboration with colleagues at Kings College London and University of Southampton. Round 1 2018/19; Round 2 2022/23. 30 interviews completed.
01-Jan-2018 - 28-Jan-2023
Township creativity - creative economies and entrepreneurship
Booyens, Irma (Principal Investigator)
Participation in policy engagement project - township economy project. AHRA funding for creative economy workshops (Kings College London). Own follow-up interviews
01-Jan-2018 - 31-Jan-2022

More projects

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Contact

Dr Irma Booyens
Senior Lecturer
Work, Employment and Organisation

Email: irma.booyens@strath.ac.uk
Tel: 553 6109