Our research at the Edge Hotel School is interdisciplinary, encompassing tourism, hospitality, and events. Our staff expertise is clustered around three key areas and we welcome PhD students in these or related topics.

Tourism is defined as a social, cultural and economic phenomenon which entails the movement of people to countries or places outside their usual environment for personal or business/professional purposes and as the economic characterisation of tourism that includes spending by visitors on accommodation, food and beverage services, transportation, touring, travel agencies, recreation, entertainment, sports, events, and shopping.

Areas of study may embrace a broad range of sectors and disciplines, including economics, marketing, human resources, management, sociology, psychology, and geography.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

Building a more environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable tourism, hospitality, and events sector, that includes sub-sector studies (e.g., nature-based destinations, culturally sustainable tourism, sustainable destinations, cultural heritage tourism)

Social and cultural issues in tourism, hospitality, and events, including equality, diversity, and inclusion (e.g., dark tourism, cultural encounters and racialised scenarios, food and culinary studies)

Technology in tourism, hospitality, and events, including artificial intelligence, data, the use of smart technology to improve and innovate visitor experiences and address employment challenges (e.g., deepfakes, innovations in visitor experiences at Wivenhoe House Hotel)

The Edge Hotel School was the first hotel school in the UK to have a fully operational luxury hotel on its campus. This important connection with Wivenhoe House Hotel,, as well as our extensive partner network with tourism, hospitality and events companies across the UK and internationally makes doing research with us a highly beneficial experience.