Professor Rhodri Thomas, Professor

Professor Rhodri Thomas

Professor

Rhodri Thomas is Professor of Tourism Management. He has undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in economics (Leeds) and two PhDs; one in management studies (Exeter) and one on public policy and small firms in tourism (LBU). He holds a PGCE (Leicester), is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) and Fellow of the Institute of Travel and Tourism (ITT). He was Dean of the School of Events, Tourism and Hospitality Management between 2015-2023.

Rhodri has secured grant and non-grant research funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) as well as from the European Commission, OECD, British government departments and various other agencies. Much of this work has been concerned with understanding (i) public policy designed to influence the practices of small firms in tourism and (ii) knowledge acquisition in tourism and the impact of academic knowledge production on practitioners. He is currently examining how theorising on small firms in tourism articulates with work undertaken by researchers with an interest in other sectors.

In addition to dissemination via academic journals and books, Rhodri has made invited keynote presentation to academic conferences in China, India, numerous European countries, and the USA. He has also accepted invitations to speak at major international practitioner events including those in Argentina (International Congress and Convention Association), Malta (Association of Independent Tour Operators), Spain and Italy (Institute of Travel and Tourism) as well as in the UK (e.g. Association of British Travel Agents [ABTA] and Association of British Professional Conference Organisers [ABPCO]). Rhodri was a member of the Business and Economics Panel of the New Zealand Performance Based Research Fund (PBRF), that country’s periodic system for research evaluation. He is Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure and Events.

 

Current Teaching

  • PhD Supervision

Research Interests

Current research is primarily concerned with the impact of academic knowledge production on non-academic constituencies within the context of public policy debates about performance-based research funding.

Professor Rhodri Thomas, Professor

Ask Me About

  1. Sustainable tourism
  2. Higher Education
  3. Economics
  4. Events
  5. Sustainability
  6. Tourism

Selected Outputs

  • Thomas R (2018) Questioning the Assessment of Research Impact Illusions, Myths and Marginal Sectors. Springer.