Dr Ilaria Pappalepore
I am a reader in tourism and events, and co-convener of the 'Place & Experience' research group in the School of Architecture and Cities. I first joined the University of Westminster in 2006 as a PhD candidate and a guest lecturer at the Centre for Tourism and Events, and later (2010-11) I became an associate researcher with the department of Urban Planning and Regeneration. Between September 2011 and June 2014 I was senior lecturer in Tourism and course leader of the BA Tourism Management at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge. Prior to joining the University of Westminster and Anglia Ruskin University I worked at the Lille Development Agency (France), department of Culture and European Relations.
I welcome PhD applications from students who have interests in tourism, events and leisure; particularly urban and cultural tourism, tourism/events and urban regeneration, creative businesses and tourism/events, new tourism areas in cities, Olympic legacies, and cultural events.
My main research areas are urban tourism, cultural events, creative industries, and events and urban regeneration. My doctoral research (completed in 2010) looked at the role played by creative industry clusters in the development of tourism in non-central urban areas. In 2010-11 I worked - within a team of five led by Prof. Marion Roberts (from FABE) - on a research project funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. This study aimed to investigate the influence of location-based factors in youth leisure behaviours, with a focus on alcohol consumption. More recently, I led a project called 'Metropolitan Tourism in the Wake of Covid-19: Business as usual or new business model?' with colleagues from the SmeT-Net team. Previously, I led a research project on the role of the Olympic Games' cultural programme in fostering local creativity, a project funded by a grant of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). I have also done work on urban tourists' experiences of green spaces in Cambridge, using GPS technology and I was part of 'S-Low Cities', a network of six European Cities led by the Centre for Territorial Studies at the University of Bergamo, Italy.