Professor Stephen Boyd

Overview

Professor Stephen Boyd is Professor of tourism in the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management.

Stephen studied geography at Queen’s University Belfast, followed by a Master’s in historical geography in Canada (University of Regina) and a PhD in Geography (University of Western Ontario, Canada) which examined sustainability in the context of national parks.

He has taught at a number of HE institutions (Staffordshire University, England, and the University of Otago, New Zealand), prior to joining Ulster University in 2004 as Professor of Tourism.

He is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and is also a visiting research professor at Luoyang Normal University, China.

Stephen has published extensively in many areas of tourism, focusing on the non-business side of tourism. His major publications are in the areas of heritage tourism, tourism and national parks, tourism and trails, and tourism and political change. To date he has over 100 publications including 45 book chapters, and many articles in leading tourism journals.

His books on ‘heritage tourism’ and ‘tourism and national parks’ have been translated into multiple languages including Italian and Chinese. His current research examines visitor experience at key attractions along the Silk Route, China and the WAW, Ireland, as well as post-conflict tourism development within Kashmir (India).

Stephen’s teaching focuses on tourism impacts, tourism planning, tourism development and tourism management. He is currently supervising two PhD students, one examining resident empowerment within a Greek Island context, the other addressing sustainability within an urban tourism context in Northern Ireland.

Stephen sits on a number of editorial boards of leading tourism journals. He is currently external examiner at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge. He has offered professional advice to a variety of industry bodies in Canada, England and New Zealand and is currently a special advisor to Tourism Northern Ireland.