I am an Associate Professor of Marketing, researcher and consultant with over 15 years of experience across research, teaching and industry engagement. I have worked in Australia and the UK, including at Australian Catholic University, Queensland University of Technology and the University of Strathclyde. My time living and working in Scotland has had a lasting influence on both my research and my connection to outdoor environments.

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My research explores why people behave and make decisions the way they do, with a particular focus on tourism and outdoor recreation, governance and sustainability, and consumer and community behaviour. At the heart of my work is an interest in risk, responsibility and social impact — and in using research to address real-world challenges.

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I have secured more than $350,000 in research funding from organisations including the British Academy, Carnegie Trust and Academy of Marketing, and have worked with industry, government and community stakeholders to translate research into practical outcomes.

I am also an experienced educator and research supervisor, with research spanning pedagogy, research methods, research training and wellbeing within learning and research environments.

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Where It Started

My curiousity about places and people started early. I spent part of my childhood living in a remote area of Arnhem Land in Australia’s Northern Territory — an experience that sparked a desire to travel, explore and understand more of the world beyond the places I knew.

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That curiousity has stayed with me. Travel has taken me across the world, but hiking has become one of my favourite ways to experience and understand places. I have walked long-distance trails in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK and spent years exploring Scotland’s mountains, and am slowly working my way towards all 282 Munros. For me, hiking is both a personal passion and a source of research questions — a way of seeing first-hand how people interact with landscapes, communities, risk and one another.

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Those experiences have also shaped the questions I ask as a researcher. Time spent on trails and in outdoor environments has prompted questions about how people prepare for and respond to risk, why they behave as they do, how access and responsibility are negotiated, and how we can protect the places people travel to experience.

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Today, many of my research ideas still begin in much the same way: with something I encounter, observe or question in the real world.

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