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Dr Ahmed Hassanien

Biography Dr Hassanien's professional experience includes both practical and academic roles in the tourism industry. He has more than 22 years of teaching experience at a number of international Universities. He has reviewed many academic articles for international academic periodicals. In 2004, he won the 'Teacher of the Year' award from the University of Wolverhampton. Also, he was awarded the 'Caparo Prize' for the most outstanding piece of pedagogic research in 2006.
He is currently an associate editor of the International Journal of Customer Relationship Marketing and Management and is on the editorial board of The International Journal of Human Capital and Information Technology Professionals. Ahmed has published widely in international refereed conferences and periodicals. Most of his research work is done in collaboration with international colleagues and research students.
Research Interests International Business Development, Event Venue Management, Facilities Management, Branding, Positioning, Renovation, Innovation.
Teaching and Learning Program Leadership: Since joining Edinburgh Napier in February 2007 I have led the BA (Hons.) Undergraduate Hospitality Management Programs, providing a point of contact for students, colleagues and external bodies. I provide academic leadership, and co-ordinate processes by which the overall program and its constituent modules are planned, delivered, evaluated and developed. I was one of 3 program leaders managing our subject group to achieve No 1 in Scotland in Guardian League Tables (for 2017), and number 9 in UK.
Programme Development: During the 2015-2016 session I carried out and submitted the program review for Hospitality Management. This contained proposals for the future development of our programs. These were successfully defended in September 2016, with possible implementation from September 2017. I led our hospitality subject group and collaborated with students and industry partners to further develop our hospitality programs. For example, a new program route has been added to the hospitality programmes (i.e. Hospitality Management and Festivals & Events). That is because the combination of hospitality and events continues to have considerable merit from both academic and industry perspectives due to the close historical links between these fields.
Academic Peer Reviews: I am currently an associate editor of the International Journal of Customer Relationship Marketing and Management and on the editorial board of The International Journal of Human Capital and Information Technology Professionals. In addition, I have reviewed many academic articles for international academic periodicals in tourism, hospitality and events. For example, I have edited a special issue on ‘Event Venues’ for the ‘International Journal of Festivals and Events Management’ in 2011. This experience helps me to guide, assist and support my colleagues in order for them to further improve the quality of their published papers and to facilitate dissemination of knowledge in our academic subject area.
PhD and DBA supervision & Examination: I have four successful PhD and DBA completions, I currently supervise 4 students and I was the main director of studies for 1 of them. I have always been supportive to students and to less experienced colleagues in the supervision teams. I encourage and facilitate meetings between my research students and academics in the field, through school research seminars, external meetings and conferences and encourage students to publish the results of their research in academic periodicals. In addition, I help my colleagues and other supervisors through participating in a series of formal reviews (e.g. RD4, RD5 & RD6) to clarify which degree the student will be registered for and their subsequent progress towards this target. I also participate in the final examination of the PhD or DBA students work.

Industry engagement: I am a member of a number of professional bodies such as the hospitality institute and the Asia Pacific Tourism Association. I have successfully built strong relationships with external stakeholders. Examples include: The Gleneagles Hotel, The Crail Food Festival, Waldorf Astoria Hotel, Apex Hotel, Royal Bank of Scotland, Motel One Hotels, The Tune Hotels and Perth & Kinross Council. I arranged a site visit for our postgraduate students in November 2014 to attend the Resort Management Masterclass event at Gleneagles Hotel (The Road to Gleneagles: our Ryder Cup Journey). My industry connections have also led to dissertation collaborations, live projects and student placements, all as part of modules.
International Collaborations: Most of my scholarship activities and research work are done in collaboration with international colleagues and research students. For example, I have recently edited a book on “Facilities Management & Development for Tourism, Hospitality and Events” through collaborating with 29 international colleagues from twelve different countries. This book has been used as the key text for the facilities planning modules in many international universities, including Edinburgh Napier. As an editor, I played a key role in guiding and directing the focus of the authors along the main aims and objectives of the book. I control guidance to all authors in order for all the chapters to have the same structure throughout the book. I helped the chapter authors to produce their contributions through offering advice, support and suggestions throughout the process. Another example is when I participated in the delivery of an International Training Program for the young Italian Hoteliers (of the Italian Hotel Association) through the University (I.e. Edinburgh Institute) in October 2016. The program lasted for 5 days, and included 4 academic sessions and 5 visits to different hospitality and tourism organisations in Edinburgh.
Conferences: Over the past few years I have shared my knowledge and experience of specific aspects of tourism, hospitality and event research studies (For example: simulation games - Product Development & Innovation – Crowdsourcing & Co-creation) through attendance and delivery of papers/presentations at both internal and external tourism, hospitality and events related conferences. This experience provided me with great opportunities to meet people in my academic subject areas and to build up networks with them. Conferences also enabled me to keep up-to-date with all academic and professional developments in my subject area.
Research Publications & Projects: I have the necessary training and experience to initiate research studies. One of my major professional goals is to carry out more research and publish extensively in academic research journals. My strongest research achievement to date has been getting nineteen academic papers published in academic periodicals. I also participated in many funded research projects. For example, I was the group leader of a large research project on “Ethnic Groups Perception of Leisure, Tourism and Hospitality Higher Education”. This allowed me to teach less experienced members of staff on the related theory, research methods and the challenges of national/international research. I also instructed and developed the skills of two research assistants.
Participation in PhD and DBA Training Programs: Since 2012, I have been involved in the design, development and delivery of PhD and DBA training programs. For example, Professor Robert Raeside and I design the DBA program for unit 3 every year. Also, I run some sessions every year on the role of literature in research, Pilot studies and conceptual frameworks for PhD and DBA students. This helps me to share my knowledge and experience with other colleagues. In addition, it helps me to guide and support young researchers to further develop and improve their research projects.


Chairing Board of Studies for Tourism subject group: As one of 3 program leaders in our subject group, I take a turn in chairing our joint BoS. The BoS is part of our Quality Framework. As chair, I lead the Board, deal with information passed on from the SSLC and progress academic and strategic issues for the program. My role as chair is to encourage student representation into the process as well as from colleagues. As a key forum for review and analysis these meetings are a minuted opportunity for colleagues and students to play a part in the development of our programs.
Overseas Module Leadership: I have developed five hospitality, tourism and events management modules, and have supported Hong Kong, Switzerland, India and Singapore colleagues to deliver the modules successfully. This was achieved through various tutor support means such as: 1) the detailed student and tutor guides, 2) Skype meetings, 3) emails, 4) face to face tutor support sessions overseas and 5) moderation reports. This collaboration and support have facilitated the delivery of the module and have empowered overseas colleagues to further improve the quality of student learning, assessment and guidance.
Dissertation and Live project Supervision: Every year I supervise individual students undertaking both undergraduate and master’s dissertations and also one or more Live Project (LP) groups. LP groups incorporate working with industry partners. This maintains industry links and networking, which enhances the university’s reputation as strongly connected with employers.