Staff profiles
Dr Nicola Palmer
Principal lecturer, PhD, PGCLT, BA (Hons), MInstTT
SBS PhD programme leader and co-director of the Visitor Economy Research Unit
Phone 0114 225 2940
Email n.palmer@shu.ac.uk
Main subject areas
Tourism management / tourism studies
Profile
Nicola joined Sheffield Hallam University in 2000. She has a first degree and PhD in Tourism (destination image representation). She has previously worked for the Wales Tourist Board, as a private sector management consultant specialising in economic regeneration, education, training and policy issues, and as Projects Officer at the University of Salford. She has conducted research for a number of agencies and public sector organisations and she was the UK project manager for a European Union-funded Tempus Tacis project concerned with higher education institutional reform in Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia.
She has been involved in regional tourism development projects, including helping to establish the South Yorkshire Tourism Task Group that received European Union Objective One funding. She has published journal articles and book chapters on issues relating to destination image representation, tourism and culture and regional policy issues. Nicola co-directs the Visitor Economy Research Unit and is the programme leader for Sheffield Business School's PhD programme. She sits on the Reputation, Culture and Sport LST Sub-Board of Sheffield City Council and is proud to be a South Yorkshire Tourism Ambassador.
Research interests
- destination image and identity representation
- tourism in peripheral destinations
- eco-tourism and wildlife tourism management
- tourism policy networks
- public sector tourism management
- the visitor economy - conceptualisation, measurement and management
Teaching interests
- destination marketing and management
- tourism and development studies
- ecotourism and tourism development studies
- tourism fieldwork and development of research skills
Teaching experience
UK lecturing experience at University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (1995-1997) and University of Salford (1998-2000)
Overseas lectures delivered at University de Deusto, Bilbao (2002) and Baltic Business School, Kalmar (2003)
PhD supervision
Nicola has supervised five PhDs to completion, she has examined five PhDs, and she is currently supervising three PhDs.
PhDs
- Political ecology of inequality and tourism development in two Mongolian pastoral regions
- Ecotourism capital in Libya's Green Mountain
- Politics, Red Tourism and tourism governance in China
- A critical investigation of the communication and narrative of Heritage-related Websites
- Tourism development in post-conflict countries
DBAs
- Globalization and the effective communication of the brand through advertising
External examining
- BSc (Hons) Ecotourism, Department of Environmental Management, University of Central Lancashire
- MA Heritage Studies/MBA Tourism Management/BA Tourism, Trinity College, Carmarthen
Examples of publications
Rowson, B. and Palmer, N.J. (2009) The impact of migrant workers on the hospitality labour market: a review. Hospitality Review, October, pp.36-43.
Palmer, N.J. (2009) Policy intervention, 'enforced' collaboration and sub-regional tourism development - the case of South Yorkshire. In Thomas, R. (Ed.) Managing Regional Tourism: A Case Study of Yorkshire, England. Advances in Tourism Research, Elsevier
Palmer, N.J. (2009) Domestic holidaymaking in a Central Asian context: Tourism legacies from pre-communist and Soviet times - Lake Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan. In Singh, S. (Ed.) Domestic Tourism in Asia - Diversity and Divergence. Earthscan.
Palmer, N.J. (2007) Ethnic Equality, National Identity and Selective Cultural Representation in Tourism Promotion: Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia , Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 15 (6): 645-662.
Long, P. and Palmer, N. (2007) Royal Tourism: Excursions Around Monarchy. Clevedon: Channel View Publications.
Palmer, N. (2006) Economic Transition and the Struggle for Local Control in Ecotourism Development: The case of Kyrgyzstan. Journal of Ecotourism 5 (1 and 2): 40-61.
Thompson, K.J., Schofield, P., Foster (Palmer), N. and Bakieva, G. (2006) Post-Colonial Resurgence of Turkic Culture and the Marketing of Cultural Tourism in Kyrgyzstan. In Picard, D. and Robinson, M. (Eds) Festivals, Tourism and Social Change: Remaking Worlds. Clevedon: Channel View Publications
Foster (Palmer), N., Pomfret, G., Smith, A. and Whalley, P. (2004) Barcelona and Catalonia - A Fieldwork Guide. Sheffield: Sheffield Hallam University
Thompson, K.J. and Foster (Palmer), N.J. (2003) Ecotourism in Kyrgyzstan - Policy and Practice. In Fennell, D. and Dowling, R. (Eds) Ecotourism Policy. Wallingford: CAB International
Awards
- Lawson International Travel Award - Tourism Graduate of 1994
- Sheffield Hallam University Promising Researcher Bursary 2004
Examples of consultancy clients (project management experience)
- Ice Hockey Superleague (UK)
- DfEE
- Shropshire CCTE
- Birmingham CEBP
- Coopers and Lybrand
- North West and Ireland Trade Group /North West Development Agency (NWDA)
- GOYH/South Yorkshire Objective One Programme Directorate
- Yorkshire South Tourism
- Northern Racing College
- Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council
- Local Government Yorkshire and Humber (LGYH)
