Akihiro Kashima
JAPAN
Akihiro Kashima is a professor at the Multicultural Planning & Design Laboratory, Department of Architecture, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Setsunan University in Osaka, Japan. He holds a PhD in urban history from the Kyoto Institute of Technology. He worked as a practising architect at the Town Hall of Girona, Spain in 1993 and since, his research interests lie in the planning history, especially of Spanish towns, planning heritage, and civic pride in small towns, community resources, etc. As a teacher of architectural planning and city planning, Akihiro works on a wide field of projects and methodology rediscovering community resources. He is also the Jury President of the Japan World’s Tourism Film Festival.
Aldo di Russo
ITALY
Aldo Di Russo earned his degree in Physics from the Sapienza University of Rome in 1976. In the 1980s, he shifted his professional career towards IT and multimedia applications. From 1980 to 1995, he was employed by ENI, the Italian oil company, to design and implement oil trade shows at a global level. Since the year 2000, he has focused his attention on the design and delivery of projects connected to the reuse of redundant cultural heritage assets, receiving worldwide recognition. As an advisor for the reuse of heritage buildings, Aldo has developed innovative solutions for cultural heritage communication, museum media and multimedia in the field of cultural heritage and tourism. His pioneering innovations in the use of multi-vision technologies with over 250 cultural heritage and corporate communication projects have received numerous awards, including the Blue Genius, the AMI Experience Award, the BIMA Award, the eCulture Award; and the SAGITTARIUS Award for cultural communication and the MIS ETC 2617 ALECTOR Award for best practice in heritage interpretation. He is a permanent member of Europeana with over 50 publications on new media and culture, creator of about 200 exhibitions, documentaries and shows.
Ali Afshar
IRAN
Ali Afshar is an assistant professor at Eqbal Lahoori Institute for Higher Education in Iran. He completed his master of architecture at the Faculty of Fine Arts, at the University of Tehran and holds a PhD in architectural studies from the University Putra Malaysia. His research focuses on the investigation of vernacular architecture and tourism studies and their application in scientific and business problems. Ali demonstrates the feasibility of his ideas by implementing the knowledge of vernacular architecture and integrating it into the architectural design of residential and recreational complexes, mostly in Iran’s tourism destinations. He is a member of the founding committee and advisory board of Euro-Asia Tourism Studies Association and a founding member of the Experimental Research in Architecture, Societies and Innovative Territories international group.
Armin Isarian
IRAN
Armin Isarian was born in Tehran- Iran on 14.April.1970. He started working as a freelance filmmaker in 2003 and his films have won more than 25 awards in international and national festivals. Armin has also been teaching ‘movie-making’ and ‘screenplay writing’ at universities and institutes in Tehran.
Carrie Richer
USA
Carrie Richer is the Director of the Roxy Theater’s film festivals – the Roxy is an art-house theatre in Missoula, Montana. One of those festivals is the 44-year-old International Wildlife Film Festival which Richer has been Artistic Director of since 2018. The Montana Film Festival, and Kiddomatic children’s film festival are also executed under her leadership. Richer is a working filmmaker with an MFA from San Francisco State in Cinema and a BA from Bates College in Dance and Anthropology. She has participated in various artist residencies and interdisciplinary collaborations like Open AIR, Western Montana Creative Initiatives, Spoke of the Hub Guest Series in Brooklyn, NY, and has received awards and grants from both Montana and Wyoming Arts Council. Carrie was the director of operations of the Jackson Wild Media Awards & Conference from 2007-2011. She led the Creative Initiatives program at Jackson’s Center for the Arts’ offerings starting in 2015 and relocated from the Tetons to Missoula, Montana in 2018. She enjoys making dance films, playing hard in the mountains, and adventuring with her family.
Cedric O’Bannon
USA
Cedric O’Bannon is a filmmaker and a digital journalist. His training and experience make him facile at all phases of digital media development— preproduction, production, and post-production – being able to rapidly assemble tight-knit mobile teams in the development of a full range of screen-works across platforms and genres—dramatic, documentary, commercial, and educational. Cedric has been developing as a quintessential filmmaker with a particular orientation towards team building, journalistic reflection, and rapid project turnover. His goal is continual collaborative growth in the audiovisual arts and science.
Desmond Wee
SINGAPORE
Vice-President of EATSA – Euro-Asia Tourism Studies Association, Desmond Wee holds a PhD (2012) in Tourism Sciences and Cultural Change by the Leeds Beckett University, UK. Since 2018, he is a Professor of Tourism and Academic Dean of International Tourism Management at the Cologne Business School, in Germany. From 2012 to 2018, Desmon was a Professor of Tourism Sciences and Spatial Theories, and Head of the Bachelor Programme of International Tourism Management, at the Karlshochschule International University. His lectures encompass a wide range of tourism issues, such as Cultures of Consumption, Critical Tourism Perspectives, Tourism Ethics, Sustainable Tourism, Tourism Development, Destination Managemen, Tourism Geographies, Critical Tourism from Asian Perspectives, Tourism Marketing and Behaviour, Social Media Marketing and Introduction to International Tourism Management.
Enrico Panaï
ITALY
Enrico Panaï is a Digital Information Strategist. Following his studies in Philosophy of Information, he worked for several years as a digital consultant and as a professor of Digital Humanities in the Theory and Practice of Information at the University of Sassari. Since moving to France in 2007, Enrico has been working as a consultant for large corporations. Building on the answer to the question, “how can we start an information related project that works?”, he wrote, ‘Skip! The Art of Avoiding Projects: An Ecological Way of Living in the Information Age‘. Based on a multidisciplinary approach relying on scientific discoveries and many examples drawn from everyday life, Enrico proposes SKIP! as the watchword for avoiding useless projects ‘before it is too late’. In 2017, he specialised in Strategies for Cyber Security Awareness at the Institut National des Hautes Etudes de la Sécurité et de la Justice. Currently, he is focused on investigating the opportunities and weaknesses of smart destinations.
Enrique Amigo
SPAIN
Enrique Amigo is a manager, producer and director of photography at Planetazul Producciones, a production company specialising in tourism, nature and agri-food, with a successful track record on TV series such as “Posadas Reales”, “Rutas en tren”, “A por setas !!”, “Camino de Leyenda”, etc. and the 15 year series on rural and active tourism, “Trotapáramus, Naturaleza y Aventura”. He is a regular contributor to specialised tourism magazines, as a writer and photographer. Enrique has also extensive experience in documentary-making, in locations like Ecuador, Madagascar, Guatemala, Germany, Morocco or Tanzania, having obtained numerous recognitions and awards at national and international festivals.
Ersin Yasin Öztürk
TURKEY
Ersin Yasin Öztürk has a Master’s degree in Restoration from the Gazi University and a PhD in Classical Archaeology from the Akdeniz University. He currently works for the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, while also being a member of the Board of Directors of the Labour Union of Culture, Art and Tourism Employees of the Antalya Region, and a member of the Confederation of Public Employees Trade Unions of Turkey. From 2015 to 2018 Ersin was a specialist at the Museum of Antalya and a team member on the excavations of the Ancient Cities of Rhodiapolis and Lyrboton-Kome. From 2012 to 2019 he participated on the excavation of the Ancient City of Perge. His experience in Conservation and Archeology also includes a restorer role, at the Antalya Management of Conservation and Architectural Survey of Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey (2010-2015) and a reporter role at the Ankara and Kayseri Regional Conservation Councils of Cultural Heritage of Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey (2002-2010).
Hilal Erkuş
TURKEY
Currently working as a professor at Akdeniz University, Faculty of Architecture, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Hilal Erkuş has focused her work on economic geography and the development of (tourism) cities. Most of her research papers are focused on the role of innovation, governance, value chains, g(local) networks, clusters, human capital, (un)related variety, economic diversification, resilience, firm survival and fictional expectations of tourism entrepreneurs in tourism cities which are novel areas in tourism and economic geography literature. Currently, she is working on economic resilience in crisis cities and factors determining firm survival strategies in crisis.
Imran Khan
PAKISTAN
Imran holds a bachelor’s degree in computer sciences and communication studies, a master’s degree in multimedia communication, from the University of Aveiro and a PhD in Digital Platforms from the University of Porto and the University of Aveiro. He is currently working as a researcher at the University of Aveiro. His areas of expertise are programming, technologies, internet of things, digital territory, digital culture, cinematography, editing, and animation.
Joanna Kosmaczewska
POLAND
Joanna Kosmaczewska is an Associate Professor at the University of Life Sciences of Poznań, Poland, whose research interests encompass tourism economics and tourism behaviour. Author of around 70 publications and a number of expert assessments and projects in the field of tourism, she is a member of CITUR (Centre for Tourism Research, Development and Innovation) – Tourism Research Unit of IPLeiria (Portugal). Joanna is also the co-owner of a travel agency and was the Executive Partner for the Polish Market at Oestetur tour operator – Destinos ao Rubro, from 2015 to 2019.
João Costa
PORTUGAL
João Costa has a PhD in Multimedia Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Catalunya. He is an Assistant Professor at the School of Tourism and Maritime Technology of Polytechnic Institute of Leiria, teaching undergraduate and graduate courses related to Informatics Science (Digital Imaging, Digital Communication, GIS and Online Marketing). He is a member of CITUR (Centre of Research, Development and Innovation in Tourism) and collaborates in R&D projects in Tourism and Marine Biology. João was also the producer/director of the documentary “Fishtour: A unique experience into the sardine route”, which won several international awards.
João Vasconcelos
PORTUGAL
João Vasconcelos is a geographer passionate about photography. He has a Master’s degree in Land Management and Environmental Planning and a PhD in Environment. He is currently an Assistant Professor at the School of Tourism and Maritime Technology of the Polytechnic of Leiria where he was the head Coordinator of the Tourism Research Group (GITUR) from 2013-2016. João was also the Executive-director of the European Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Recreation and is currently a researcher at the Center for Geographical Studies of the Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning of the University of Lisbon (CEG/IGOT).
Kevser Çınar
TURKEY
Vice-President of EATSA-Euro-Asia Tourism Studies Association and founding committee member, Kevser has a PhD in Tourism Management by the Necmettin Erbakan University, in Turkey, where she has been, since 2018, an Assistant Professor at the Department of Tourism Management. She has worked as an EU Projects expert for 14 years and taken part in several different international EU projects while being also certified in curriculum development by the Institute of Educational Sciences. Kevser’s research interests are innovation in tourism, consumer behaviour and tourism marketing. She has organised two international scientific events (Hackatour and Science Centers as Tourism Assets) in Konya, Turkey and hosted one international conference (5th EATSA Conference). As a TEDx speaker, she delivered a talk in TEDxDenHelder’s event organized in the Netherlands in 2018.
Kristina t’Felt
DENMARK / FRANCE
Doctor and Lecturer of Sociology, Member of the Research Centre 2L2S at the University of Lorraine and Associated Member of The Centre for the Study of Global Human Movement at the University of Cambridge, Kristina t’Felt’s research, examines the implications of tourist mobility, namely the constancy of the noetic function when being Elsewhere. Meeting the Other and his Culture can be a source of inspiration, pleasure, indifference or refusal. As explored in Kristina’s research, the meaning of moving is firstly imagined, then lived and later told, producing varied mental and iconic images. The intercultural aspect in the interactions between host and guest as for the nature of the hospitality are essential components in the potential development of the Self Elsewhere.
Madhuri Sawant
INDIA
Madhuri Sawant is an Assistant Professor, Coordinator of Research and Consultancy and Director of the International Centre for Buddhist Tourism at the Department of Tourism Administration, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad, in India. Between 2017 and 2020, Madhuri was EATSA’s Executive Secretary. As an Expert on Tourism, she works in the Indian Government University Grants Commission and in various prominent Academic Tourism Committees in over 18 Indian Universities. A post-graduate in Tourism Administration (MTA) she is the First UGC NET-JRF and also the first woman to be awarded a PhD in Tourism in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Madhuri also holds PG Diplomas in Business Management, German Language and Environmental Studies. She has over 46 publications including 6 books and 29 journal articles and book chapters and has organized 9 International and 12 National Seminars / Conferences / Workshops. As a Research Supervisor, Madhuri is guiding Doctoral Research Fellows from the UK, Japan, Thailand, Kenya, Yemen on Health Tourism, Creative Tourism, Corporate Social Responsibility, Human Resources in Tourism, Internet Marketing, Destination Branding, Film Tourism, Crime & Tourism.
Mariana Calaça Baptista
PORTUGAL
Mariana Calaça Baptista is specialised, with notoriety, in Architectural and Urban Heritage by the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid. She completed her Masters in Cultural Management at ESAD – Escola Superior de Artes e Design in 2017 and mentored the Caixa Negra project, a reflection on the life and death of culture in the city of Caldas da Rainha. Currently, Mariana collaborates with several associations and is a consultant in the areas of Heritage, Communication, Tourism and Culture, while also being a regular chronicler for the Italian digital newspaper Moondo. Through all her work and also as the local pivot for Communication Agency, ADBD Communicare, Mariana tries to create events that will attract people for the communities where she works.
Minako Yamazaki
JAPAN
Producer and Coordinator at MKY Global Marketing Inc. (Japan) and J-Hawaii Asia Pacific Inc. (Hawaii, USA), and graduated from Fuji Women’s University, Minako started her career as a CA at Japan Airlines. After five years of plentiful experience, she married and moved to Johannesburg, South Africa, having explored the entire Southern African countries in five years studied at the University of Johannesburg. After leaving Africa, she was invited to manage a newly created Marketing and PR firm, where she conducted business for many international and globally renowned travel organisations oriented to the Japanese market. Her travels to over seventy different countries brought her the opportunity to learn and acquire global tourism knowledge. Since 2011, Minaki is dedicated to her destination marketing-focused family-owned companies. Since 2015 she has been more involved with tourism film as a producer and coordinator. Her motto is “Tourism combines people and makes people happy”.
Mona Erfanian Salim
IRAN
Mona Erfanian Salim has a BA and MA in Architecture from the Faculty of Fine Arts, from the University of Tehran, in Iran and a PhD in Urban Design and Planning, from the Faculty of Design and Architecture, University of Putra Malaysia (UPM). Her main research focus is identifying tourist needs for urban open public spaces in tourism Islands. Mona takes a multidisciplinary approach that encompasses the fields of urban tourism, tourism and recreation, and urban design based on the sustainable development goals. Moreover, she has been painting since she was a teenager and has been pursuing it all these years, either through her work experiences or as a valuable hobby. Currently, she is an assistant professor at the faculty of Art, Architecture and Urban Planning at the Eqbal Lahoori Institute for Higher Education in Iran.
Nancy Duxbury
CANADA
Holder of a PhD, Nancy Duxbury is a Senior Researcher and Co-coordinator of the Cities, Cultures and Architecture Research Group at the Centre for Social Studies, of the University of Coimbra, Portugal. She was the Principal Investigator of “CREATOUR: Creative Tourism Destination Development in Small Cities and Rural Areas,” a national research and application project involving 5 research centres and 40 pilot projects (2016-2020) that aimed to catalyse and develop creative tourism in small cities and rural areas across four regions of Portugal. The multi-award-winning documentary, “creatour.pt – creative tourism Portugal” demonstrated the power of documentary filmmaking by showing the project’s many facets in action, propelling its messages internationally, and inspire others. Related research-action interests include cultural mapping, culture in local sustainable development, and culture-based development models in smaller communities. Nancy is internationally published and is a member of the European Expert Network on Culture.
Rajesh Ragde
INDIA
Rajesh Ragde is the Director of the Department of Tourism Administration, at the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad, in India and a Tourism Expert Member of UGC, MPSC, Govt of Maharashtra, CBSE, CIVE, Ministry of Tourism -Government of India and other prominent academic committees of 36 Indian Universities. With a PG in Tourism Administration (MTA), he is the First Researcher in Maharashtra, India to be awarded a PhD in Tourism Planning & Development. He also holds Postgraduate degrees in Physics & Electronics, Business Management and Education. Rajesh has conducted his pioneering Research on Tourism Planning & Development, Ambedkar Tourism, Tourist Policy, Ecotourism, Rural Tourism, Cultural Tourism, Fort Tourism, Sufi Tourism and Medical Tourism and his findings have been included in the UG, PG & UGC- CBSE NET Tourism Programmes, Course Curricula and reflected in the Tourism Planning and Policy documents especially his research on “Sustainable Medical Tourism“. He is currently investigating and analysing the Degradation of the Natural & Cultural Heritage of Lonar Crater, a project sponsored by the Indian Ministry of Science and Technology.
Rao Narender
INDIA
Rao Narender is the Founder-Director of the Woodpecker International Film Festival (WIFF), launched in 2013 at the backdrop of the Indian Cinema 100th anniversary. A senior journalist, media educator and communication expert, he has worked on a wide range of projects from the environment and public health to agri-business and rural communications. His work provides him with ample opportunities to travel, meet people, explore cultures and learn the basics of life.
Sanchi Ragde
INDIA
From India, Sanchi Radge now lives in South Croydon, in the United Kingdom, where she got her master’s degree in Tourism Marketing Management at the Bournemouth University. During last year (2019-2020) Sanchi worked at NBTC Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions, in destination marketing and PR. Being culturally aware and adaptable, with experience in organizing and hosting events, she successfully managed a TripAdvisor campaign for Dutch National Parks, contributed to marketing campaigns for Dutch Golden Age (Dutch artists and art history) and Europe Remembers (75 Years of Freedom/WWII). She specializes in influencer marketing and organising influencer trips.
Satyanarayana Dulam
INDIA
Satyanarayana Dulam is an award-winning filmmaker, known for his critically acclaimed documentary and short films like ‘Dreadful Fate’, ‘I am Satyabhama’ and ‘Welcome to Telangana’. From humble beginnings, growing up in a small town called Mancherial, in the Telangana state of India, Dulam received the prestigious US Department of State’s CCIP fellowship in 2011 to study Motion Picture Directing at the Scottsdale School of Film and Theatre, in Arizona, USA. He has also been a delegate and panellist in various international conferences and film festivals in the US, Canada, Pakistan and Iran. He has been representing the Government of Telangana to promote state tourism films at various international film markets and festivals like Cannes, Toronto, Dubai and Goa.
Susanna Bell
FINLAND
Susanna Bell is a Finnish-American film critic, TV casting professional and author. She majored in Art History at the University of Helsinki. She believes a film review needs to be more than the plain product description to which it is often relegated in today’s media. Critique can and should aspire to be a form of literature, discussing not only the morphology of the work in question but also its outspoken themes and underlying messages.
Sven-Erik Knoff
NORWAY
Sven-Erik Knoff is an award-winning Norwegian photographer and film producer who portrays the wonderful reality of the world the way it is. On his own initiative and on behalf of clients from all over the world, he seeks out, captures, highlights and amplifies the way he perceives the world and communicates it to the world. Wanderlust, an eye for detail, passion for lighting and technical perfection are the tools he uses to convey his view of the world, seen through an enquiring lens and painstaking craftsmanship. His realistic portraits, films, nature and landscape photography have been noticed in Norway and abroad. Knoff’s images have been published by the BBC and in Norwegian media, and has won several international awards, including Best Camera in Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards 2017 for the production of ‘Iconic Norway’ with the production company, Natural Light. Sven-Erik Knoff is also an entrepreneur in the field of visual displays and is currently working on developing solutions within 3D and photogrammetry for multi-purpose-use in an international market.
Tariq Elhadary
EGIPT
Holder of a PhD in Applied Linguistics & Qur’anic Studies from the University of Leeds, in the UK, Tariq Elhadary is currently an assistant professor of applied linguistics (translation) at the department of English Translation & Interpreting, of the Istanbul Gelisim University, in Turkey. He served as the Head of University Preparation Unit, Scholarships Office, Ministry of Presidential Affairs, UAE, while maintaining an active research agenda in the field of applied linguistics, Qur’anic studies, education and religious tourism.
Thiago Pereira
BRAZIL
Thiago Pereira has a master’s and a doctorate in Geography from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. He is an assistant professor and the head of the Tourism Department at the State University of Rio de Janeiro (DTUR / UERJ). He has experience in landscape ecology, forest fragmentation, biogeography, and ecosystems’ global functional indicators. In the areas of human sciences and applied social sciences, Thiago works with natural protected areas management policies, public use in natural parks, resolution of conflicts of interest, nature-society relations, ecotourism, community-based tourism, sensory trails and inclusive tourism in natural environments. He coordinates two extension projects which aim to stimulate and socialise ecotourism and sensory trail experiences in natural parks in the state of Rio de Janeiro. Since 2013, he has been conducting pioneering research on Drug Tourism.
Tiffany Chan
CANADA
Tiffany Chan has a master’s in Sustainable Tourism Management from the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria. She is an advocate for responsible travel, environmental conservation, and conscious living and passionate about connecting others to purposeful, adventurous, and off the beaten path experiences. Born and raised in Canada, she was fascinated by the intersection of culture at an early age. With an honours degree from the University of Toronto and years of living abroad, her interest and experiences evolved into several creative projects and a social enterprise that focused on community building and collaborative art. Her professional background in marketing and business development also led her to create a platform that connects people through storytelling by showcasing global artisans and their cultural heritage. She is also currently on the board of directors for a non-profit organization that focuses on restoring one of Canada’s provincial parks, as well as an ambassador for women in rock climbing.
Tony Morin
USA
CEO/Owner of Hendy Street Produxions, Tony Morin, began working in film in 2001, after studying film at Virginia Commonwealth University and Cape Fear CC where he currently teaches once a week in the Film and Video Department. Tony has worked on over 100 credited films and TV shows and twice that many commercials and promotionals.
Tsuyoshi Kigawa
JAPAN
Associate Professor of the Faculty of Tourism, at the Wakayama University, Tsuyoshi Kigawa, was born in the Kyoto’s Nishijin district, known as the Japanese filmmaking district. After graduating from the Kyoto Institute of Technology, he explored several countries, like Sri Lanka, China and the US as an architect and studied urban morphology at the University College London. After returning to Japan, he carried out research on how to distil narrative stories from local cities, while also written screenplays on Rakugo and short films. He made several short films as a producer and director. Currently, he is the general director of the Fukui Short Film Festival and the Japan World’s Tourism Film Festival.
