I am an Associate Professor in Tourism Policy and Environmental Justice at York Business School, York St John University. As a tourism geographer, my research focuses on environmental governance, landscape justice, and the ways people experience and shape protected environments. My work examines how tourism, leisure, heritage, and adventure intersect with ecological change, inequality, and public policy.
A major strand of my current research explores dark skies, light pollution, and nocturnal environments. In partnership with the North York Moors National Park, I am leading a five‑year programme investigating how protected landscapes respond to the climate crisis through conservation, community engagement, and regenerative tourism in a protected river catchment landscape. Since 2024, I have researched the social and ecological significance of dark sky festivals, the impacts of artificial light at night on biodiversity and health, and the governance challenges of managing nocturnal environments in rural and urban settings. My work contributes to emerging debates on environmental stewardship, regenerative tourism, and the future of green and blue spaces in public policy.
I also research intersectional inequalities in adventure and mountaineering. My publications include the edited collections Gender, Politics and Change in Mountaineering: Moving Mountains and The Mountain and the Politics of Representation, as well as a chapter in Other Everests: One Mountain Many Worlds. In 2025, I opened one of the globe’s leading mountaineering festivals, Kendal Mountain Film Festival, to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the first woman to summit Everest - Junko Tabei.
I am a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and Secretary of the Geographies of Leisure and Tourism Research Group at the Royal Geographical Society, a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and serve as a committee member for the Leisure Studies Association. Before entering academia, I worked extensively in cultural regeneration, establishing and managing major venues, festivals, and cultural development programmes in the public sector.
A passionate mountaineer and active member of my local mountain rescue team, I bring lived experience to my research on ecological justice in tourism, leisure and adventure. I am also the York Business School Co-Lead for Research and Knowledge Exchange.
You can follow my work on LinkedIn.
I teach across a range of Business and Management subject areas, including tourism, event, festival theory and management, entrepreneurship and small business creation. I currently teach on the following programmes:
- BA (Hons) International Tourism and Hospitality Management
- BA (Hons) International Events and Experience Management
- Postgraduate Research Supervision
Since 2020, I have supervised doctoral candidates; current doctoral students include:
- Dark skies, bright lives: An exploration of how engagement with dark skies can promote a positive sense of well-being within an international dark sky reserve in the United Kingdom
- Who Gives a __? Empirical Evidence for Ethics of Care Leadership Creating Supportive Workplace Communities
- A Critical Reflection of the Evolving Change Leadership Skills Required by Directors / Associate Directors (Non-Clinical) Within NHS Integrated Care Board (ICB) Settings
I have externally examined PhD candidates at Glasgow University, Galway University, and for DBA programmes at Brunel University.
I accept and supervise doctoral researchers in the fields of:
- Tourism, festivals and events
- Adventure, sport and leisure tourism
- Cultural heritage
- Urban Tourism and Historic Cities
- Sustainable/regenerative tourism and social justice
- Business management, sustainability and gender
I lead a series of high-impact research programmes that have delivered tangible benefits to the environment, public policy, and marginalised communities:
REConnect
I am a lead partner in a five-year, £1.2m climate action partnership with NYMNP and North York Moors Trust (NYMT) for the REConnect project, funded by the National Lottery Climate Action Fund (CAF) (2024 to 2029). I lead research on behavioural change. This research explores citizen-led climate solutions in protected zones. After securing a £49k NYMNP grant in 2025 via UKRI and Leeds University, I lead the Voices for Nature project, which aims to influence biodiversity policies in coastal towns.
Watch our REConnect film, 50 Voices, on YouTube
Dark Skies
I lead the Cities Under Stars research, which explores how we can protect dark skies and biodiversity by tackling urban light pollution. We are creating tangible change through a campus light pollution programme, ‘The Right Light’, that demonstrates mitigation in action. This is a partnership research and activism programme with North York Moors National Park’s Dark Sky Festival.
Watch The Dark Matters, on YouTube
Watch Cities Under Stars, on YouTube
Mountaineering
In 2025, I led a global campaign to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Junko Tabei, the first woman to summit Everest. This fostered international collaboration with women Everest summiteers. I gave presentations at the RGS, partnered with the Mount Everest Foundation, British Mountaineering Council (BMC), and the Alpine Club, and was invited to speak at the Hay Literature Festival. My work appeared in The Conversation and BMC's Summit Magazine. The partnership produced a film, “More Than a Mountain”, which is touring internationally and has been screened in 14 locations and five countries.
Watch More Than a Mountain, on YouTube
Gender and Adventure
My research on gender in high-altitude mountaineering, published in the Annals of Tourism Research, has significantly influenced policy. For example, in collaboration with Dr E. Boocock (Northumbria), our research was commissioned by and influenced leading mountaineering organisations, including the National Mountaineering Centre in Scotland, Outward Bound, The Outdoor Partnership, BMC, and Mountain Training United Kingdom (MTUK). The industry report prepared with Dr A. Doran (Sheffield Hallam) and presented to MTUK (2020) helped shape the development of a five-year national women’s strategy and guided the BMC’s Equity Steering Group. Research with Dr L. Davies on equality, diversity, and inclusion in UK Search and Rescue Services (UKSA) led to an invitation to serve as a keynote speaker at the Mountain Rescue England and Wales (MREW) National Conference in 2024. Our work on gender-based experiences continues to influence EDI policy development across UK mountain rescue teams, demonstrating the lasting impact of my research.
Regenerative Tourism
Since 2020, I have worked with Professor B. Paddison on a regional tourism impact case study focused on regenerative tourism. The project works with the industry-led York Tourism Advisory Board and the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority to support the implementation of a regional tourism levy through the recently established YBS policy unit. This research has already received public recognition and national media coverage, and it will influence the introduction of a tourism levy.
Recent publications
I am Associate Editor for the Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism Education (JHOLSTE) since 2023. I am the Secretary of the Geographies of Leisure and Tourism Research Group and have served on the committee since 2016. I am an Executive Committee member of the Leisure Studies Association. I am a fellow of the HEA and the Royal Geographical Society.
Peer Review
- Journal of Sustainable Tourism
- Gender, Place and Culture A Journal of Feminist Geography
- Annals of Tourism Research
- Tourism Geographies
- Leisure Sciences
- Annals of Leisure Research
- Journal of Heritage Tourism
- Journal of Event Management
- Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism
- Tourism Cases, CABI International
- Psychology of Sport and Exercise
Industry research
Paddison, B., Hall, J., & Bailey, A. (2026) Visitor Levy Policy Report: York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority.YNY Visitor Levy Report.pdf
Hall, J., Brigstocke, S., Mahon, F., & Potter, W. (2025). REConnect: Research Evaluation Report 2025. REConnect-Report-Project.pdf
Paddison, B., Hall, J., Radcliffe, T., Alexiou, A. (2024). Diversification of visitors and organisation. York Archaeological Trust (Unpublished Report).
Hall, J., Paddison, B., & Moisieiev, D. (2023). North York Moors National Park Resident Survey 2024. North York Moors National Park (Published Report). www.northyorkmoors.org.uk/tourism/residents-survey
Hall, J., & Doran, A. (2020). Researching Female Mountaineers, United Kingdom. Capel Curig, Mountain Training UK (Unpublished Report). ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/4625
