International Relations December 4, 2020

Susanne Becken, PhD is a Professor of Sustainable Tourism at Griffith University in Australia and the Principal Science Investment Advisor (Visitor) in the Department of Conservation, New Zealand. She is also a Vice Chancellor Research Fellow at the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom. Susanne is a member of the Air New Zealand Sustainability Advisory Panel, a Fellow of the International Academy of the Study of Tourism and the 2019 UNWTO Ulysses Award winner.

Matthew T.J. Brownlee, PhD is an Associate Professor of Parks and Conservation Area Management in the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management with a joint appointment in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Conservation. Dr. Brownlee's inter-disciplinary research links outdoor recreation, park planning, and resource management. His applied research provides information to help park and protected area professionals manage visitor experiences while evaluating the reciprocal linkages in complex social-ecological systems (SES). Within parks and the SES context, Matt examines numerous phenomena and issues, including a) park visitor behavior and capacity, b) people’s interactions with and attachments to climate-sensitive and climate-impacted environments, and c) the dynamics of complex social-ecological systems.

Daniel Scott, PhD is a Professor and Research Chair in Geography and Environmental Management at the University of Waterloo. He is also an International Research Fellow at the School of Hospitality and Tourism at the University of Surrey. Daniel has worked extensively in the area of climate change and the recreation and tourism sectors, including the transition to a low carbon tourism economy and adaptation to the complex impacts of a changing climate. He has advised and led projects for a wide range of government agencies and businesses around the world, including the United Nations World Tourism Organization, United Nations Environment Programme, World Meteorological Organization, World Bank, European Tourism Commission, World Travel and Tourism Council, and the International Olympic Committee. He has also been a contributing author and expert reviewer for the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Assessment Reports.

Lawal M. Marafa, PhD is a professor at the Department of Geography and Resource Management, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is also the founding Director, Postgraduate programme in Sustainable Tourism. Dr. Marafa was awarded the “Exemplary Teacher Award” in 2005 and received the Royal Belum Inaugural Ecotourism Award, Perak, Malaysia, 2007. He served as a facilitator at the (Bill) Clinton Global Initiative meeting, in 2008 serves as a member of the UNWTO World Committee on Tourism Ethics. Dr. Marafa also serves as the Vice Chairman of the World Leisure Organization Board of Directors. Dr. Marafa is actively involved in teaching and research and had undertaken a number of consultancy projects. Over the years, Dr. Marafa has published extensively in academic and various media and has presented at several international conferences and has supervised many Ph.D. and Master Students. His teaching and research interests cover Tourism and Environment, Tourism Policy, Tourism Education, Ecotourism, Agricultural policy, Climate Smart Agriculture, and SDGs, Knowledge Sharing and Management etc.

Xiao Xiao, PhD received the B.A. degree in Tourism Management (2010) and the M.S. degree in Human Geography (2013) from Nanjing University, China. She received her Ph.D. degree in Natural Resources from the University of Vermont, Burlington, USA in 2016. She is currently an assistant professor in the School of Community Resources and Development at Arizona State University and located at Hainan University -Arizona State University Joint International Tourism College. Her research interests include climate adaptation planning for parks and recreation areas, decision support tools for sustainable community, and transportation management in protected areas.

KoFan Lee, PhD is an Associate Professor of Sport and Recreation Administration at the University of Mississippi, U.S.A. His main research agenda is to understand the role of leisure experience in fostering participants' well-being. His studies look into various recreation contexts, mainly nature-based recreation and lifestyle sports. He is particularly interested in identifying the psychological process associated with one’s leisure commitment. He also looks into social and physical environments that influence our choices of, participation in, and commitment to leisure experiences and how people negotiate with changing social and physical settings with innovative and resilient leisure practices.