Below are the ICTR Biographies of the Conference and Programme Chairs, Key Note Speakers and Mini-Track Chairs.
Conference and Programme Chairs
Prof Balkaran is the Deputy Vice Chancellor: Teaching & Learning at CPUT. He has been an academic for the past 25 years and has a particular flair and passion for the Hospitality & Tourism sectors as well as Policy Studies, Education and the Social Sciences. As an academic his experience extends to that of Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Head of Department, Deputy Dean, Executive Dean and currently Deputy Vice Chancellor Teaching and Learning at CPUT.
Chris Hattingh is a senior lecturer in the Department of Tourism and Events Management at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). He has been teaching in the leisure, tourism and events programmes at CPUT for 11 years. He is a dedicated researcher in the field of social sciences with a deep-rooted curiosity and a genuine desire to contribute to the understanding of human behaviour in marketing and uncovering the dynamics of LGBT tourism.
Keynote Speakers
Dr. Kamilla Swart is Associate Professor and Director of the Masters in Sport and Entertainment Management program, College of Science and Engineering, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar Foundation. Her research interests include sport and event tourism, with a specific focus on mega-events, impacts, sustainability, legacy and inclusion in sport. Kamilla has nearly 30 years’ experience in sport, tourism and events that spans academia and the private sector and has consulted broadly in both the public and private sectors. She was instrumental in developing the 2010 FIFA World Cup Research Agenda and was project lead for South Africa as part of an EU-funded project on mega-event legacy and management which culminated in the publication of Legacies and Mega-events: Fact or fairytales? (Routledge, 2018). Her work focuses on contributing to sport, tourism and event knowledge in the developing context, and in the global South in particular. Shworked closely with Qatar Foundation 2022 FIFA World Cup Master Program and the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy in driving the 2022 FIFA World Cup Research Agenda. Kamilla also serves as Senior Research Associate, School of Tourism and Hospitality, University of Johannesburg, South Africa. She serves as Associate Editor for the Journal of Destination Marketing and Management and Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, and on the editorial boards of the International Journal of Sport Marketing & Sponsorship, Alternation Interdisciplinary Journal for the Study of the Arts and Humanities in Southern Africa, International Journal of Sport Marketing & Sponsorship, Cogent Social Sciences – Sport section and Event Management. Kamilla was the Co-Chair of the World Association of Sport Management Conference Qatar 2023. She has been appointed to the Scientific Committee (research pillar) of the UNESCO Chair on Governance & Social Responsibility in Sport.
Kaitano Dube is an Associate Professor for Tourism Geography at the Vaal University of Technology under the Department of Tourism and Integrated Communications, Faculty of Human Science. He serves as an Acting Faculty of Human Science Research and Innovation Professor. He is a visiting Professor at Emirates Aviation University in Dubai, UAE. He is an NRF rated researcher. He boasts of 9 published books edited and co-authored. He has published over 35 Journal articles mostly in Q1 and 2, and over 50 book chapters. He serves on several journal editorial boards, including in Tourism Geographies, and is an Associate Editor for Cogent Social Sciences Tourism Section. He is a tourism curriculum expert who has reviewed for several universities. He has graduated a number of Masters students and currently hosts 5 Post-Doctoral Fellows. His research interest is in tourism, climate change, sustainability, and tourism aviation.
Ikechukwu O. Ezeuduji, South African National Research Foundation (NRF) rated researcher, is full Professor at the University of Zululand, South Africa. He obtained both his Master of Science (2005) and PhD (2008) from the BOKU-University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria. He thereafter obtained a Master of Business Administration (2013) from The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK; and a Postgraduate Diploma in Higher Education (2019) from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. He has more than 12 years of teaching experience in Higher Education Institutions. He has widely published in broader areas of tourism development (rural and events tourism), tourism management (strategic tourism management and tourism entrepreneurship) and tourism marketing (brand essence, brand competitiveness, brand image and brand loyalty). He is a Member of the Economic and Management Sciences standing panel; The National Research Foundation (NRF), South Africa, for the 2019/2020 to 2022/2023 period. He is serving as Associate Editor and Guest Editor for national and international journals and has won numerous national and international research awards.
Mini-Track Chairs
Prof. Teresa Costa holds a PhD in Management and developed her Post PhD in Entrepreneurship and Social Capital in Tourism at the University of São Paulo. She is a coordinator professor in the Department of Eco¬nomics and Management at the Business School at the Polytechnic Institute of Setúbal. She is a researcher at CiTUR - Center for Applied Research in Tourism, member of the scientific board of CITUR-Estoril, editor-in-chief of EJTHR (European Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Recreation) during 2018-2021. Her current research interests focus on entrepreneurship, innovation, so¬cial capital, networks, governance, and sustainability in tourism. Her re-search has been published in several international journals and several book chapters and co-editions of handbooks and eBooks related with entrepreneur¬ship, innovation, social capital, and networks with IGI Global.
Tracy Daniels is a PhD candidate in Tourism and Hospitality, specialising in sport event tourism from the University of Johannesburg (UJ). She is the Academic Head of Hospitality at the UJ School of Tourism and Hospitality and lectures in the field of Event Management.
Dr Fernanda A. Ferreira is a full Professor at the School of Hospitality and Tourism of Polytechnic of Porto, Portugal. She is Director of the Department of Information Systems and Mathematics. She holds a M.Sc. (in 2002), and a PhD in Applied Mathematics from the University of Porto (in 2007). A researcher and coordinator of UNIAG (Applied Management Research Unit), her publications, more than 150, cover her main research interest areas Tourism Research, Hospitality Management, Industrial Organization, and Operational Research. (ORCID ID: orcid.org/0000-0002-1335-7821).
Prof. Brendon Knott is Associate Professor in Sport Management at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology and Director of the Centre for Sport Business and Technology Research. His research focuses on sport tourism and events. He has published widely on place branding as a legacy from sporting mega-events, particularly the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. He serves as Regional Editor for Event Management and Associate Editor for Journal of Leisure Research.
Dr Christopher Moon is a multiple award-winning eco and social entrepreneur and Senior Lecturer in eco-entrepreneurship at Middlesex University. He has a PhD from Imperial College and is a fellow of the RSA, HEA and EEUK. He was formerly Head of Sustainability at two companies and teaches sustainable tourism, sustainable business and entrepreneurship and sustainability. He has over 100 publications including in the International Journal of Hospitality Management 2018. Chris has taken tourism students to Mallorca on study tour regularly where Middlesex has an Erasmus agreement with UIB, Palma. He has presented at UIB international week and was interviewed by Spanish TV on sustainable tourism. He is Visiting Professor at NUP, Cyprus.
Dr Alcina Nunes, PhD in Economics, is a Professor in Business and Social Sciences at the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, Portugal. She is responsible for the bachelor degree in International Business Management (European Degree) and is an integrated member of UNIAG. In the past was an integrated member of GEMF and researcher at the Office of Strategy and Studies of the Ministry of Economy (Portugal). She has collaborated with national and international higher education institutions throughout her academic activity, participated in research projects, and published scientific articles in conference proceedings, indexed scientific journals, and book chapters.
Dr Cândida Silva is Professor of Technologies and Information Systems, and President of Technical-Scientific Council, since July 2017, at School of Hospitality and Tourism of Polytechnic Institute of Porto (ESHT/P.PORTO), Portugal. PhD in Information Systems and Technologies by School of Engineering of University of Minho, since July 2015, with the thesis “Knowledge Model for crowdsourcing innovation brokers”. Master in Industrial Engineering, since June 2006, and a Degree in Computer Science Engineering, since September 2000, all by School of Engineering of University of Minho. Principal researcher of CiTUR – Centre for Tourism Research, Development and Innovation, since January of 2018. Researcher collaborator in the group of Information Systems and Technologies for the Transformation of Organizations and Society (ISTTOS) of the Algoritmi Centre of the University of Minho, since July of 2015. Founder and president of AIS Student Chapter of University of Minho (2010-2012), where organized two national competitions of case studies in Information Systems. Member of AIS (Association for Information Systems) and of AIS Portuguese Chapter.
Prof. Vera Teixeira Vale has a PhD in Management with specialization in Marketing and Strategy from the Faculty of Economics and Management of University of Porto. She lectures under graduated and graduated courses of Management, Marketing, Marketing Research and Consumer Behaviour. Presently, she is researcher affiliated to GOVCOPP, and a invited researcher at CEOS.PP. Her research topics are: Consumer Behaviour, Consumer Psychology, Anti-Consumption, Anti-branding, Sustainable and Responsible consumption and Tourism. Her teaching interests are: Consumer Behaviour, Marketing Research and Marketing Management.