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Doctoral Programme

The Doctoral ProgrammeClick icon to open a word version of this page

The Students

The Department's doctoral programme follows a UK tradition of the award of a doctoral degree by thesis, although students are required to have appropriate entry qualifications and may be required to undertake course in research methods and epistemologies. Please note that students are also required to defend their thesis in front of a panel for a viva. Past and current students in recent years include:

Past Students
Dr Jenny Cave

completed a Master's degree at the University of Toronto and is now lecturing at the University of Waikato. She studied the role of tourism in creating opportunities for small and medium sized enterprises among the South Pacific Island peoples resident in Auckland, New Zealand. Her study has already won a BRICCS Scholarship. Jenny has published in the Journal of Travel Research and been a guest editor for 2 issues of the International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research. In 2009 she was a runner up for the award of best doctoral thesis given by Emerald Publishing.

(Supervisors Chris Ryan and Alison McIntosh, Examiners Professor Jim MacBeth, Murdoch University and Dr Tracy Berno, Lincoln University)

 
Dr Hazrina Ghazali

lectures at University Putra Malaysia and was sponsored by the Malaysian government.  Her research interests lie in issues pertaining to staffing and service quality and thus she looked at employee turnover in the Malaysian restaurant industry - its causes, consequences and how it might be remedied. Rina had a memorable day in May 2010, both successfully completing her oral defence and giving birth to twins on the same day!. She was a co-winner of the best Conference paper for the 2nd New Zealand International Hospitality Management Conference in December 2009 and has published in journal such as the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.

(Supervisors - Professor Chris Ryan and Associate Professor Asad Mohsin, examiners Professor Nigel Hemington, AUT, and Professor Michael Davidson, Griffith University, Australia).

 
Dr Maggie Liu

undertook research into the role of Chinese students studying in New Zealand in generating VFR business for New Zealand, and the patterns of that business. Maggie also completed her Master's degree at the University of Waikato Management School. She initially undertook some teaching within the Management School and at the Emirates Academy while waiting for her viva and takes up a permanent post in late 2010 after being a post doctoral student under Professor Ryan. Maggie has published work in Tourism Management and gave papers at the 2010 Asia Tourism Forum. She currently (2012) works for KiwiRail in an administrative position in Hamilton.

(Supervisors - Professor Chris Ryan, Professor Alison McIntosh and Associate Professor Asad Mohsin. Examiners: Professor Perry Hobson, Southern Cross University and Professor Gu Huimin, Beijing International Studies University).

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Dr Rose Omondi

Rose comes from Kenya and had acquired a MBA from the University of Wales in the UK. Rose commenced her field work in Kenya in mid-2008, having among other things, stood as a candidate in the Kenyan parliamentary elections in early 2008. Her thesis dealt with the lives of the 'romantic entertainers' of the Mombasa coastline and their relationships with the male tourists that visit that part of East Africa. She lectures now at Moi University in Kenya.

(Supervisors - Professor Chris Ryan and Professor Alison McIntosh. Examiners: Professor C Michael Hall, University of Canterbury, NZ., and Dr Thomas Bauer, School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, HK).

 
Dr Stephen Pan

Steve undertook his Master's degree at the University of Waikato Management School. He also won a best paper award at the 12th APTA-4th ApacChrie Joint Conference in Hualien in 2006. The picture is of Steve at that conference. Steve successfully graduated in 2006, and after holding a post at Tunghai University, Taiwan he has returned to Hong Kong Polytechnic as an Assistant Professor. Steve has published in Journal of Travel Research and Journal of Sustainable Tourism and completed UNWTO and PATA projects. Steve is a co-winner of a best APTA Conference Paper.

(Supervisor - Chris Ryan, Examiners Professor Sue Beeton, La Trobe University, Australia and Professor Roger Riley, Ithica, NYU, USA))

 
Dr Kathryn Pavlovich

is now an Associate Professor in Strategic Management - her thesis topic was networking among the tourism in the Waitomo region of New Zealand. Kathryn successfully graduated in 2000 and was one of the first students in our programme.

(Supervisors - Clive Gilson and Chris Ryan, Chief Examiner, Professor Geoff Kearsley, Otago University)

 
Dr Steve Pike

is now lecturing at the Queensland University of Technology and is author of Destination Management published by Pergamon Press.  Steve took a MBA at the University of Waikato Management School and his doctoral thesis topic was on segmenting and marketing short break holidays in New Zealand. Steve graduated in 2002.

(Supervisor -Chris Ryan - Examiners, Professor Mike Hall, University of Canterbury, New Zealand  and Professor Richard Sharpley, University of Central Lancashire, UK)

 
Dr Naomi Pocock

Dr Naomi Pocock gained her Ph.D. by examining the issues faced by returning 'OE' travellers on their return to New Zealand, and what was their conceptualization of 'home'. Her supervisors were Professor Alison McIntosh and Dr Anne Zahra. The examiners were Professor John Tribe from Surrey University and Associate Professor Stephen Wearing from University of Technology, Sydney (UTS).

 
Dr Girish Prayag

his research was related to destination image with reference to markets for Mauritius. By the time of his graduation in 2009 Girish had given several conference papers and published several refereed journal articles. He left Waikato to take up an appointment at the CERAM Business School in Nice, France, which is now the SKEMA Business School.  Girish has published in the Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing, and Current Issues in Tourism among other journals and was a joint winner of a best paper award at the 2010 New Zealand Tourism and Hospitality Research Conference.

(Supervisors -Professor Chris Ryan and Associate Professor Tim Lockyer - Examiners - Professor Richard Sharpley, University of Central Lancashire, UK.,  and Professor Bruce Prideaux, James Cook University)

 
Dr Chin Ee Ong

comes originally from Singapore, having gained his Master's degree from National University Singapore. His research topic examines tensions in interpretation by guides in Macau as they relate the old with the new in that City State. Chin Ee was one of the writers of the UNESCO Manual for Tour Guides of World Heritage Sites. After returning to the Institute for Tourism in Macau, in late 2011 he took up a post at the Cultural Geography Chair Group at Wageningen University, Netherlands

(Supervisors - Alison McIntosh and Chris Ryan - Examiners - Professor Bruce Prideaux and Professor Nigel Morgan)

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Dr Ulhas Rao

was formerly a manager at Vector Networks, Auckland, and successfully graduated in 2007 having completed research is into attitudes and technology adoption by international visitors to New Zealand. From September 2006 Ulhas held a post at Temple University, USA, but has now returned to industry and works in Brisbane, Australia. Ulhas has published in the Journal of Vacation Marketing.

(Supervisors -Professor Chris Ryan and Professor Bob McQueen. Examiners - Professor Simon Milne, AUT and Dr Marianna Sigala, Aegean University and Former Chair - ENTER).

 
Dr Melissa Tsai

is now lecturing at National Kaohsiung Hospitality College, having gained a Master's degree from Hawaii Pacific University.  Melissa's thesis related to perceptions of restaurant and food service within a Taiwanese setting.  Melissa graduated in 2004. Her picture shows her with a voucher awarded for participation at the Taiwanese Aboriginal Village. During her studies Melissa won a small Taiwan Government Research Grant to help her research. Additionally she gave conference papers in New Zealand and the People's Republic of China and has published in journals like the Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research.

(Supervisors - Professor Chris Ryan and Associate Professor Tim Lockyer. Chief examiner - Dr Rick Fraser, Lincoln University).

 
Dr Un In Cora Wong

comes from Macau and lectures at the Macau Institute for Tourism. She completed her Master's degree at the Catholic University of Portugal and Inter-University Institute Macau, where she won a prize for being an outstanding student. Her doctoral thesis examined tourist attitudes and intrusions on Buddhist monastic life at Puotoshan.

(Supervisors - Alison McIntosh and Chris Ryan, Examiners - Professor Betty Weiler and the Reverend Professor Myra Shackley).

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Dr Greg Wilson

completed his Master's degree at the University of Waikato Management School and was a recipient of a Ministry of Tourism Award for studying heritage tourism in Napier, New Zealand. Greg's research work at doctoral level was an examination of spirituality in tourism. After teaching at the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic Greg moved to take up a teaching post at Edith Cowan University in Western Australia.

(Supervisors - Professor Alison McIntosh and Dr Anne Zahra, Examiners Dr Candice Harris, Auckland University of Technology, Professor Richard Sharpley, University of Central Lancashire, UK).

 
Dr Shih-Shuo (Sam) Yeh

possesses two Master's degrees, one from the United States and a second from the University of Waikato.  His research was into attitudes and experiences of a theme park in Taiwan.  His picture is from a visit to his home country of Taiwan where he gave a paper at the 2006 APTA Conference in Hualien. After an initial appointment at Peng-Gu National University in Taiwan Sam took up a lecturing post in late 2009 in Taiwan at National Chiayi University and is now Head of the Department of Hotel Management at Tainan University of Technology. Sam graduated in December 2008. He has published in Tourism Management and Journal of Vacation Marketing.

(Supervisors - Professor Chris Ryan, Associate Professor Asad Mohsin and Professor 'TC' Huan (National Chiayi University, Taiwan).  Examiners - Professor Perry Hobson, Southern Cross University and Professor Janet Chang, Chinese Culture University).

 
Dr Anne Zahra

completed her Master's degree at the University of New South Wales and has now submitted her thesis on the evolution of Regional Tourism Organisations in New Zealand. Anne currently lectures in tourism management at the University of Waikato Management School. Anne has published in a range of journals including Tourism Management  and Journal of Sustainable Tourism.

(Supervisor - Chris Ryan. Examiners - Professor Mike Hall, University of Canterbury and Professor Leo Jago, University of Victoria, Melbourne). Ann completed her doctorate in 2006.

 
Dr Zhang (Vivian) Wei

Vivian completed her Master's degree at Beijing International Studies University (BISU) and lectured at Beijing City University. Her thesis looked at the motives and behaviours of outbound Chinese tourists resident in Beijing and traced changing responses as the Chinese outbound tourism industry matured. She gained her degree in 2010 and currently runs a business with her husband bringing students to New Zealand from China.

(Supervisors were Professor Chris Ryan, Professor Alison McIntosh (Waikato) and Professor Gu Huimin (BISU) and her examiners were Professor Bettty Weiler, Director of Tourism Research at Monash University, Australia, and Professor Xu Hong, Dean of the Business School, Nankai University.

 
Dr Jackie He Linghao Zhang

Jackie's Ph.D thesis dealt with the determinants of dining quality in Shanghai restaurants, a thesis topic that from time to time required the 'hardship' of experiencing various meals! His supervisors were Associate Professor Tim Lockyer and Associate Professor Asad Mohsin. Jackie's examiners were Professor T.C. Huan from National Chiayi University, Taiwan, and Associate Professor Robert Inkabaran from the University of Canberra.

 
Dr Nicole Zhou

completed her Master's degree at the University of Waikato Management School. She is studied the role of and attitudes of Hang Zhou residents toward conferences and exhibitions and the MICE industry in her native city of Hangzhou, China, where she now lectures at Hangzhou  International Languages University. Nicole has already published research and given conference papers, including the APTA conference hosted by Beijing International Studies University.

(Supervisors -Chris Ryan, Alison McIntosh and Asad Mohsin, Examiners, Professor Marg Deery, University of Victoria, Australia and Associate Professor David Jones, Hong Kong Polytechnic University).


Current Students
Prasitchai Aksonnit

Chai holds an undergraduate degree in Political Science from Ramkamhaeng University in Thailand. He obtained his M.A. in Applied Linguistics from Kasetsart University, Thailand and M.M.St from Waikato University under the support of NZODA scholarship. Chai has worked in various areas ranging from hotel staff in Bangkok, tourism promotion officer for the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), National Intelligence Agency Officer, a part time tutor at a Rajabhat University, and the Organizational Strategic Planning Manager for CAT Telecom Plc. He is currently engaged in Ph.D. research at Waikato University in the field of developing the relationship between stakeholder collaboration and the role of local government in ecotourism development in Thailand.

(Supervisor; Associate Professor Tim Lockyer and Dr Anne Zahra).

 
Preeda Chaiya
Preeda Chaiya lectures in the Faculty of Tourism and Hotel Management at Mahasarakham University, Thailand having gained his MA from Ramkhamhaeny University in 1998. He has presented conference papers in Thailand relating to English language skills of staff working in Thai hotels. His current research relates to service quality in luxury hotels and is being supervised by Associate Professor Asad Mohsin and Associate Professor Tim Lockyer.
 
Misung Lee

Misung (Mimi) Lee has taught in Pusan, Korea having completed her degree from the University of West London followed by the completion of Masters' degrees at the Vatel Institute, France and the University of Perpignan, also in France. Of Korean origin Mimi also spent time at Dong-A university while also having industry experience with the Sofitel Chain. Her research relates to issues of service quality in the hotel industry.

(Supervisors:-Associate Professor Tim Lockyer and Professor Chris Ryan).

 
Ping Li

Ping Li comes from Beijing and completed her Master's degree within the Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management. She enjoyed it so much she decided to stay to complete her Doctoral degree within the Department. She is looking at the impacts of tourism on the Taoist site of Qiyunshan in Anhui Province and has lived on site in a study that takes into account visitors, residents and local and government officials. Her supervisors are Chris Ryan and Dr Jenny Cave, but we want to acknowledge the help of Jane Sai and Scarlett He from the University of Huangshan and Professor Gu Huimin from Beijing Studies University.

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Mirrin Locke
Mirrin formerly lectured at the New Plymouth based Pacific International Hotel Management School. She obtained her Master's degree from Giffith University after many years of industrial experience in the catering and hospitality sector. She has published on the hotel industry and is currently undertaking research into the strategic planning of the MICE sector in Auckland. Mirrin has already published an article and given conference papers from her research. Her supervisors are Professor Chris Ryan and Dr Anne Zahra.
 
Minghui Sun
 

Minghui comes from Beijing and completed her Master's degree at North Western University in South Africa. For many years she has worked in the outbound Chinese tourism industry taking Chinese clients to experience the Safari Parks of South Africa. She will be looking at Chinese visitors to New Zealand and both their perceptions of New Zealand, and the reactions of the industry to Chinese guests. Minghui commenced her studies in April 2010 and will drawing data from over 874 blogs.

(Supervisors - Professor Chris Ryan and Dr Steve Pan)

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Thu Thi Trinh

Thu comes from Danang City, Vietnam, and has a Master's degree from Danang University and a Bachelor's degree from Hanoi Open University. She lectures at Danang College of Economics and Planning and has won awards for her teaching. She is undertaking a study of Historic and Heritage sites in New Zealand.

(Supervisors - Professor Chris Ryan and Dr Jenny Cave)

 
Abdul Salem Wafi
 

Abdul Salem Wafi comes from Oman and completed his Master's degree at the Waikato Management School and decided to stay to complete his doctoral degree which he began in 2011. His research is about the motives and outbound travel patterns of Omani citizens and he is particularly interested in the constraints that Omani women may feel and the preferences that may be exhibited by those of the Islamic faith. His research comprises two stages, the first being qualitative in nature before moving to a conventional questionnaire.

His supervisors are Professor Chris Ryan and Associate Professor Asad Mohsin

 
Jingjing Yang
 

studied for her Master's degree at Beijing International Studies University and had already published on issues relating to the ski industry and its tourism in Beijing prior to commencing her doctoral degree. Her research is into the impacts of tourism on the communities and cultures of the Tuva people in Kanas, Xianjiang Province, having spent 12 months resident in Kanas. She speaks Mandarin, English and now Tuva and Kazakh. She is a co-author of an article published in Tourism Management on tourism in Kanas and has given papers relating to this subject, including at the New Zealand Tourism and Hospitality Research Conference. She is the winner of a Chinese Government Scholarship in 2011.

(Supervisors - Professor Chris Ryan and Dr Jenny Cave)

 
Hyekyung Yoo
 

Hyekyung Yoo comes from Pucheon in Korea, having completed her undergraduate and Master's degree at Bournemouth University, UK. She had prior experience of New Zealand having studied English at UCOL in Plamerston North and Manakau Institute in Auckland. Her research relates to spousal programmes in conferences and their nature, effectiveness and the experiences they offer spouses.

(Supervisors - Professor Alison McIntosh and Dr Anne Zahra)



Departmental Support for Doctoral Students.

Research and Career Development

The Department provides all students with office space and computer access within the Management School.  They thus have access to all the School's computer and database resources which includes the major databases made available by publishers such as Science Direct and Scopus.  In addition, to help students develop their curriculum vitae students can, if they wish, earn additional money by acting as graduate assistants and taking occasional lectures and seminars to a maximum of 6 hours per week during two semesters.  Additionally it is expected that they will give conference papers and financial help is given to this end.  Furthermore, once registered as students it is possible to apply for various university based scholarships while help is also given to seek awards external to the university.


Social Support

The Department and Management School recognise that at times undertaking doctoral studies through research can be a lonely process, and we try to provide the support of a strong social network.  This has both an academic and social side.  Regular but relatively informal sessions are held to discuss research methods, for student to provide information about their research to each other, to help in developing presentation and interview skills and to discuss various research related issues.  Additionally a social programme has been developed that includes just eating and drinking, playing ten pin bowling and just 'going out'.

Supervisory Staff

The Department is fortunate in that it includes supervisory staff with international reputations and high grades under New Zealand's research assessment exercise known as the PBRF which allocates scores to inpidual researchers. These include:

Dr Jenny Cave
Jenny's interests lie in issues of niche tourism products that relate to events, heritage and adventure. She was previously Director of Hamilton's Libraries and Museum's Services and before that had over a decade of experience holding senior positions in Canada's Museum Services. She has published several articles including in major journals such as the Journal of Travel Research and Tourism Management.
 
Associate Professor Tim Lockyer
Tim's interests lie in the food and hospitality industries and he has published in leading journals such as Tourism Management and the International Journal of Hospitality Management. In October 2008 Tim took up a position as Visiting Scholar at the China Hotel Institute (Beijing International Studies University). He is also author of a book on Trends in Hospitality management.
 
Associate Professor Asad Mohsin
Like Tim Asad has a long background in the hospitality industry, with experiences of Australia and Brunei while starting in India.  Asad has also published in journals such as Tourism Management, and The Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management.
 
Professor Alison McIntosh
Alison's research interests lie within the fields of heritage and cultural tourism.  She too has published in all the leading journals including Annals of Tourism Research, Tourism Management and Journal of Travel Research. She is the co-author of Commercial Homes in Tourism (published by Taylor and Francis). She has undertaken several reports for the Historic Places Trust in New Zealand and has been involved in Waihi Heritage initiatives based on its gold fields. Alison is co-cordinator of the doctoral programme with Professor Chris Ryan.
 
Professor Chris Ryan  
Chris has published over 150 journal articles, and is editor of the journal Tourism Management.  His background is in economics and psychology, and he is interested in tourist behaviours and the consequences of those behaviours, and in destination management. he is co-cordinator of the doctoral programme with Professor Alison McIntosh.
 
Dr. Anne Zahra
Anne has published in a number of journals on issues such as Regional and National Tourism Organisations and Volunteer Tourism. She is currently conducting research into linkages between volunteerism and tourism. Her background is in accounting and she is the author of a successful book A guide to the law for tourism and hospitality students.


International Links

Like many departments we have extensive international linkages, both formal and informal.  Of particular interest to the doctoral program are our Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) with the College of Charleston, USA, and Beijing International Studies University, China.  We also have a Memorandum of Understanding with Woosong University in South Korea, and each year since 2000 students on our B.Tour degree have an opportunity to study in South Korea for a paper on Korean culture that counts toward their degree in New Zealand.  Additionally through Charlie Panakera - a former Solomon Islander MP who lectures in the Department, we have extensive links through the South Pacific, including with the University of the South Pacific with whom the School has another MOU. Our co-researchers also include many others including Dr Ayse Collins in Bilkent University, Turkey, Dr Yoel Mansfeld in Israel, and Professor T C Huan from National Chiayi University, Taiwan.  Below are a few photographs of these overseas colleagues.

Professor John Crotts
is Head of the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management at the College of Charleston.  He is seen here addressing recent graduates from the College with the photograph taken by Chris Ryan when he was at the College for several months in 2006.  Chris and John have had various joint publications including an article in Annals of Tourism Research.
 
Professor Stephen Litvin
lectures at the College of Charleston and has published widely being, like John, one of the most prolific authors in the subject area.  He is also a keen supporter of the Cougars basketball team. Steve has also published in leading journals such as Tourism Management, Annals of Tourism Research and Journal of Travel Research.
 
Professor Zhang Wen
is Dean of Translation Services at Beijing International Studies University and is seen here at the 2006 Asia Pacific Tourism Association Conference. Her research interests lie in resident perceptions and attitudes toward tourism and tourism planning. Wen has contributed to work being published by Professors Ryan and Gu.
 
Professor Gu Huimin
is Head of the Department of Hospitality Management and Director of the China Hospitality Research Centre.  She has also written extensively in the arena of tourism and is currently co-authoring books on tourism research methodologies and Tourism in China, published in 2009 by Taylor and Francis (New York).  
 
Professor 'T C' Huan
has been helping staff and doctoral students in a project pertaining to theme parks and visitor perceptions.  He is seen here at the 12th APTA Conference in Hualien where a joint paper with Sam Shih-Shoh was given.