
I am Professor of Intelligent Systems in Service, Head of School of Hospitality and Tourism Management and a Fellow with the Surrey Institute for People-Centred Artificial Intelligence at University of Surrey.
I conduct research on digital transformation in the services sector, focusing on human-computer interaction, consumer behaviour, and management. I investigate the applications and implications of artificial intelligence and am an advocate of utilising technology to forge new pathways to a better future. My current work covers human-AI teaming and the future of work, digital nudging, and the development of sociotechnical systems for sustainability transitions. I have received research funding from research councils, charity (e.g., Leverhulme Trust), and the industry. I was the Surrey PI for a 4-year research project on data privacy in travel sector (2018-2022) funded by EPSRC (£1.4M). I received several Best Research Paper/Journal Paper of the Year Awards at ENTER conferences in 2008, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2020, I-CHRIE in 2008 and 2019, Advances in Destination Management in 2012, etc. I am a recipient of Web of Science Highly Cited Researcher in the field of Social Sciences in 2021.
I provide leadership to a globally leading School of Hospitality and Tourism Management (SHTM) at University of Surrey. I am a strong proponent of the transformative approach to education and research. This is reflected in the SHTM Global Leadership Strategy 2021-2024, which focuses on three pillars: cultivating future leaders, advancing scholarship and impact, and developing and sustaining partnerships. In 2022, SHTM rose to #2 in the world on the Shanghai Ranking's Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS) 2022 for Hospitality & Tourism Management, and claimed its #1 position in the UK on the Complete University Guide University League Table 2023 for Tourism, Transport, Travel and Heritage Studies. The School is also among the Top 5 on The Guardian and The Times and Sunday Times League Tables 2023.
I served as Vice President (2014-2017) and later President (2018-2020) of the International Federation for Information Technologies and Travel & Tourism (IFITT) and am a founding member of the Alliance for Innovators and Researchers in Tourism and Hospitality (AIRTH). Prior to joining Surrey, I was Clinical Associate Professor in the School of Hospitality Business Management, Carson College of Business, Washington State University, USA. From 2008 to 2012, I was Assistant Professor and Associate Director of the National Laboratory for Tourism and eCommerce (NLTeC) at Temple University, USA. I obtained my PhD in Information Sciences with a concentration in Human-Social Information Sciences under the supervision of Professors Hisa Morisugi and Tatsuhito Kono from Tohoku University (東北大学), ranked the best university in Japan by Times Higher Education, where I received the Japanese Government's Scholarship through Monbukagakusho/MEXT Scholarship Program (2003-2006) and the GSIS Dean's Award for Excellent Achievements in Doctoral Studies in 2007.

Research
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Teaching
For teaching and advising experiences.

Personal
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Research in 60 Seconds
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Highlights
- 2021, April: Panel at MTCON 2021, Turkey on "High Touch vs High Tech? Or Both?"
- 2021, March: Panel at THE Summit 2021, Temple University, USA on "Cultivating educational leadership: T.H.E. PhD Eduacation"
- 2021, February: Talk at 2021 TRC x CRL Symposium, Curtin University, Australia on " Reimagining travel and tourism with technology"
- 2021, January: IFITT 2019 Journal Paper of the Year Award for "x=(tourism_work) y=(sdg8) while y=true: automate(x)" (with A. Tuomi, E. Ling, G. Miller, and G. Lee), ENTER2021 Conference.
- 2020, December: Keynote speech at ITSA2020 Conference, Jakarta, Indonesia on "The Future of Tourism: Roles of Technology"
- 2020, December: Keynote speech at 2020 KOPIST High Level Policy Forum, Seoul, Korea on "The Future of Tourism Supporting Development after COVID-19"
- 2020, November: Keynote speech at ISOT2020 Conference, Banding, Indonesia on "The Future of Tourism: Roles of Technology"
- 2020, February: Keynote speech at CAUTHE2020, Auckland, New Zealand on "Shaping the Future of Travel and Tourism."
- 2020, January: ENTER2020 Best Research Note Award (3rd Place) for "Imagining the Future of Travel: Technology and Sustainability Transitions" (with Graham Miller), ENTER2020 Conference, Guildford, UK.
- 2019, September: Keynote speech at ATMC 2019 (Advances in Tourism Marketing Conference), Namur, Belgium on "Preparing for the Future of Travel & Tourism."
- 2019, August: Keynote speech at the 69th AIEST Conference, Varna, Bulgaria on "Can we create a sustainable future with intelligent machines?" Link to press release.
- 2019, March: Keynote speech at Forum TurisTIC, Barcelona, Spain on "An Ongoing Quest for Intelligent Travel." Media coverage:
- “El sector turístico, ante el reto de su transformación digital”
- “La digitalización hará que el turismo sea más sostenible y rentable"
- “La digitalización revierte en experiencia, sostenibilidad y rentabilidad”
- “El Sector Turístico, volcado con las nuevas tecnologías”
- “Un robot en tu hotel: las preguntas que debes hacerte antes de comprarlo”
- “Celebrado el Forum TurisTIC”
- “Barcelona acoge el Congreso de nuevas tecnologías en turismo”
- 2019, January: IFITT 2019 Journal Paper of the Year Award for "Virtual Reality, Presence, and Attitude Change: Empirical Evidence from Tourism" (with D. Wang, T. Jung, and MC tom Dieck), ENTER2019 Conference, Nicosia, Cyprus.
- 2019, January: Best Paper Award for "Robotised Hospitality" (with Aarni Tuomi and Jason Stienmetz), 23rd Annual Graduate Student Research Conference in Hospitality & Tourism, Houston, TX.
- 2018, December: Workshop on "AI and Experience Design in Tourism" and keynote speech on "Nudging for Privacy in Tourism" at CBTS2018 Winter School and Summit, Bruneck, Italy.
- 2018, November: Speech at IFITTtalk@Bournemouth on Artificial Intelligence for Tourism and Hospitality, Bournemouth, UK (Video)
- 2018, November: Keynote speech on "Digital Transformation in Tourism" at III International Conference on Dynamics and Trends in Tourism, Benevento, Italy.
- 2018, October: Keynote speech on "Intelligent Automation for Tomorrow's Tourism" at TURITEC International Conference, Malaga, Spain.
- 2018, September: Panelist on "The Roles of Technology in Sustainable Tourism" at UNWTO World Tourism Day 2018 Official Celebration, Budapest, Hungary.
- 2018, September: Guest speaker for a live session of MOOC Micromasters at HKPolyUx for HTM540x on "Intelligent Automation in Tourism and Hospitality" - YouTube Video << starting at 16:43!
- 2018, September: Opening speech at IFITTtalk@Dalian on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics in Tourism, Dalian, China.
- 2018, August: Quoted in a report by Carat Manchester and Canvas8 on "Unpacking Travel: What Makes Today's Travel Consumer Tick."
- 2018, July: Quoted in China Daily about London attractions adopting Alipay.
- 2018, May: Invited for a talk for the Challenges in European City Tourism Workshop by the European Forum at the Hebrew University, Mount Scopus, Jerusalem, Israel.
- 2018, April: Research funding for PriVELT announced by EPSRC: "Research projects to build trust, privacy and security in use of personal data and digital technologies." Also featured in EurekAlert.
- 2018, April: Guest speaker for a research seminar at Virginia Tech, USA on "Designing technologies for behavioral change."
- 2018, March: Acknowledged as a contributor to the Blackett Review on UK Service Economy, published by the UK Government Office of Science.
- 2018, March: Panelist in "Scaling up in the Digital World" event, Surrey Business School, University of Surrey.
- 2018, March: Chair of "Getting Smarter with Social Media in Tourism" panel at the t-Forum Conference, Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
- 2018, February: Keynote speech on "Tourism and the Technological Futures" at IMTM 2018, Tel Aviv, Israel (Israeli Ministry of Tourism Program).
- 2018, February: Featured in the press release of ENTER2018 by Destination Jönköping
- 2018, January: Elected (first female) President of IFITT at ENTER2018 in Jönköping, Sweden: Surrey Press Release.
- 2018, January: Completed guest editing work for the Special Issue on "Shareable Tourism: Tourism Marketing in the Sharing Economy" in Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing (with Marianna Sigala).
- 2017, December: Delivered a keynote speech on "Designing Technology for Behavioral Change" at CBTS2017, Bruneck, Italy. Featured in Südtirol News.
- 2017, October: Featured in "Emotional Intelligence in the Travel Sector" on University of Surrey Alumni News
- 2017, September: Co-organized IFITTtalk@Surrey | Surrey Think Tank: Collaborative Economy with Prof. Sabine Benoit from Surrey Business School (Program). News about the event on SHTM website.
- 2017, June: keynote speech on "Technological Advances in Tourism" at II Tourism Dynamics and Trends, Seville, Spain.
- 2016, August: Awarded Best Emerging Scholar in Tourism (BEST) 2016 by the International Tourism Studies Association (ITSA)
- 2016, June: Featured in "Co-working spaces may help fuel local tech industry" on Vancouver Business Journal.
- 2016, May: Research featured in Airbnb's presentation to UNWTO
- 2016, Spring: Featured in WSUV's Crimson & Gray on P2P accommodation research.
- 2016, February: Delivered a keynote speech on "P2P Accommodation" at European Travel Commission (ETC) Market Intelligence Group Meeting, Prague, the Czech Republic.
- 2016, February: Received Best Research Paper Award, 1st Place, ENTER2016 Conference, Bilbao, Spain.
- 2015, December: "You could be suffering from FoMO this Christmas" features a link to this research. More: The Conversation, Australasian Science
- 2015, November: "Peer-to-peer accommodation services change travel patterns" on Inc.com, EurekAlert, Science Daily, Phys Org, Science Codex
- 2015, November: "Hospitality leaders discuss the 'sharing effects'" on Vancouver Business Journal
- 2015, August: IFITT's Hangout on Air on the Sharing Economy with Dzmitry Bazhko, Courtney Ries, Szilvia Gyimothy and Dianne Dredge [IFITT's Google+ and YouTube].
- 2015, May: keynote speech on "Personal Technology and Tourism Experiences" at ISCONTOUR2015 [Paper] [Pictures] and IFITT's Hangout on Air from ISCONTOUR's venue [IFITT's Google+].
- 2015, January: "Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2015" co-edited with Dr. Alessandro Inversini [Details]
- 2014, November: IFITT's Hangout on Air on Social Media in China with Deana Gao and Dr. Bing Pan [IFITT's Google+].
- 2014, September: IFITT's Hangout on Air to celebrate World Tourism Day with Dr. Lorenzo Cantoni, Dr. Aurkene Alzua, and Vitor Pereira [IFITT's Google+].
- 2014, May: IFITT's Hangout on Air on Smart Tourism with Dr. Ulrike Gretzel and Dr. Chulmo Koo [IFITT's YouTube]
- 2014, May: UNPAD - IFITT e-Tourism Seminar at Universitas Padjadjaran, Bandung, Indonesia
- 2014, April: IFITT's Hangout on Air on Big Data and Analytics with Dr. Dan Fesenmaier and Dr. Phil Xiang [IFITT's Google+]
- 2014, January: "Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2014" co-edited with Dr. Phil Xiang [Details]
- 2013, January: Best Research Paper, 1st Place, ENTER 2013 Conference, Innsbruck, Austria (IFITT). [Details] [VIDEO]
- 2012, June: Best Paper Award, the 1st Biannual Forum on Advances in Destination Management, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland (Elsevier). [Details]
- 2012, May: Temple University Presents Results of Cape May Tourism Study (Atlantic City, NJ). [Details]
- 2012, January: Journal Paper of Year Award, 2nd Place, ENTER 2012 Conference, Helsingborg, Sweden (IFITT). [Details]
- 2010, October: Advanced social networking for travelers: 7 secrets for boosting your online power (MSNBC). [Details]
- 2018, February: Keynote speech on "Tourism and the Technological Futures" at IMTM 2018, Tel Aviv, Israel (Israeli Ministry of Tourism Program).