The University of Queensland put its best foot forward at a leading national tourism education conference, with researchers taking out three major awards and supplying the body’s new chair.
UQ School of Tourism PhD student Ann Suwaree Ashton took out two awards at the Council for Australian University Tourism and Hospitality Education’s annual conference in Hobart this month.
After winning the best paper award in the Demand, Consumer Behaviour and Marketing category, Ms Ashton was named CAUTHE’s winner of the best PhD paper.
Lecturer and Postgraduate coursework co-ordinator, Dr Lisa Ruhanen, claimed the CAUTHE College of Fellows Award for Tourism and Hospitality Education at the conference.
Following this up was Associate Professor Brent Ritchie, who was elected the new chair after terms as first and second vice-chair.
Ms Ashton said the school’s success at the conference cemented its reputation as a centre of excellence in research, teaching and learning.
“The conference received delegations from around the world, so to win these awards helps build a good reputation for the school,’’ she said.
“I believe the awards will open doors for my future career as an academic and give me the confidence to write research papers for publication.’’
Dr Ruhanen said her award recognised academics who had made a sustained and substantial contribution to tourism and hospitality education.
Her work included a CAUTHE-funded project examining student enrolment trends and a study of postgraduate student motivations, learning styles and graduate outcomes.
She also received a UQ Teaching and Learning Strategic Grant to work with a team of staff from the school on regional tourism research.
She has submitted numerous articles for publication in tourism and hospitality journals, supervised doctoral students and been involved in university curriculum review committees.
Meanwhile, Dr Ritchie said he hoped to use his new role to give CAUTHE a higher profile.
“I hope to increase the advocacy role of CAUTHE to government and industry and promote the great educational and research work our members are doing,” he said.
“I am passionate about our field of study and will do my best to enhance and support what we do in Australia.’’
CAUTHE has 24 university members and more than 180 individual members and affiliates.
Media: Brent Ritchie (0413 938 115), Lisa Ruhanen (0423 784 370) or Erik de Wit (0417 088 772).
