Behaviour change for sustainable tourism and improved wellbeing and quality of life

Project summary

• Examine why, how and in which tourism context(s) place attachment, pro-social and pro-environmental behaviours contribute to residents’ and tourists’ wellbeing and quality of life
• Assess the effectiveness of fostering place attachment to promote sustainable tourism
• Assess the effectiveness of pro-social and pro-environmental behaviour change intervention in tourism

Research calls for immediate action on uncontrolled tourism impacting our planetary and human health and wellbeing. Understanding why behaviour change is important to promote sustainable tourism and how to design and when to implement interventions is increasingly critical to confront challenges in safeguarding the planet’s resources and promoting people’s wellbeing and quality of life.

Questions that need to be answered are why, how and in which tourism context pro-social and pro-environmental behaviours contribute to residents’ and tourists’ wellbeing and quality of life. The challenge is to achieve long-term behavioural change in tourism and hospitality businesses. Behaviour change in tourism will require a long-term planning process with interventions designed to better educate businesses, tourists and communities to incorporate sustainable behaviours to protect our planet’s resources.

Aligning with the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, this PhD study will bring a novel multi-disciplinary approach drawing on business, psychology and public health disciplines. It extends Professor Ramkissoon's (Director of studies) existing work (Ramkissoon et al., 2013; 2018; Ramkissoon & Mavondo, 2015; Ramkissoon et al., 2020; Ramkissoon, 2020a; 2020b; in press) on multi-stakeholder engagement and social and environmental psychology to propose, develop and test innovative behavioural change intervention techniques in tourism. It will provide new directions to promote tourists’ and residents’ wellbeing and quality of life and business sustainability outcomes, hence contributing to sustainable tourism development and broader economic, societal and environmental goals.

Research cluster

Centre for Business Improvement

Entry requirements

For our PhD programmes, we normally expect you to have a First or Upper-Second (2:1) honours degree and preferably a masters degree from a UK university or qualifications that we consider to be equivalent.

International students may also need to meet our English language requirements. Find out more about our entry requirements for international students.

Project-specific requirements must align with the University’s standard requirements

How to apply

Please contact Professor Haywantee Ramkissoon (H.Ramkisson@derby.ac.uk) in the first instance.

The University has 4 starting points each year for MPhil/PhD programmes (September, January, March and June). Applications should be made at least 3 months before you would want to start your programme. Please note that if you require a visa additional time will be required.

Funding

Self-funded by student. There is a range of options that may be available to you to help you fund your PhD.