I am an Associate Professor in Tourism and Events at York Business School, York St John University. As a cultural geographer, my work is interdisciplinary exploring issues of social and ecological justice across tourism, leisure, events, heritage and sport. I have published widely on the intersectional experiences of inequality in adventure and my research has influenced policy in mountaineering organisations in the United Kingdom. Recent publications include edited books 'Gender, Politics and Change in Mountaineering: Moving Mountains', 'The Mountain and the Politics of Representation' and a chapter in 'Other Everests: One Mountain Many Worlds'. I am currently working with Mountain Rescue England and Wales to understand women's experiences of mountain rescue and to create a practical toolkit to enable rescue teams to improve equality, diversity, and inclusion.
As an expert in governance and policy in tourism concerning urban heritage, spatial justice, and regenerative tourism, I am currently working with North York Moors National Park on a five-year research project to investigate climate crisis and conservation through public engagement programmes. I am a Fellow of and Secretary of The Geographies of Leisure and Tourism Research Group at the Royal Geographical Society, and a member of the Other Everests AHRC Research Network. I have professional experience managing cultural regeneration projects in the public sector establishing and leading major venues, festivals, and cultural development programmes. I am a passionate mountaineer and a member of her local mountain rescue team.
I am the York Business School lead for the Principles in Responsible Management Education (PRME), which aims to embed the UN Global Compact within the curriculum, research and partnerships. I am also a Fellow of and Treasurer of The Geographies of Leisure and Tourism Research Group at the Royal Geographical Society, Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and a member of the Other Everests AHRC Research Network.
You can follow me at www.jennyhallgeographer.com / 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 & Hospitality Management
- BA (Hons) Events & Experience Management
- Executive MBA
I teach modules such as Dark Tourism, Responsible Tourism, Event Legacy and Impact and Tourism Industry and Insight.
I also accept and supervise post-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
As a cultural geographer, my research explores social justice in tourism, leisure, heritage and cultural contexts. My recent work investigated the intersectional ways in which mountain adventure environments are experienced by women. This work identified how Welsh women face discrimination through a lack of recognition of their Inidigeniety and highlighted how speaking Welsh in the mountains helped them to connect to a sense of cultural identity. In contrast, I have also been working on producing a film that explores how independent businesses in York have recovered following COVID-19 and are now thriving in the city centre.
I have published internationally in leading tourism journals and present regularly and major international academic conferences such as the International Women in Tourism Conference and the Royal Geographical Society International Conference. I am Treasurer of the Geographies of Leisure and Tourism Research Group. I also lead an international partnership to deliver an International Conference, Slowing Down, Tourism Scholarship and Practice in the Era of the Anthropocene, which attracted over 140 delegates from 39 countries in 2023.
Current research
I produced a film that explores how climate crisis in the Yorkshire region with the Yorkshire and North East Film Archive Nature Matters.
I am working with the North York Moors National Park (NYMNP) and North York Moors Trust, and delivered research evaluation on the National Parks resident and tourism survey in 2023; initiating a regenerative tourism pilot research project to explore dark skies and how public engagement can achieve conservation goals to reduce light pollution in protect zones; delivering 5 year research evaluation of NYMNP REConnect Climate Action project (2024 to 2029), which will evaluate impact of local communities connecting with nature conservation to affect species recovery and transform host community behaviours towards caring for the environment. These projects are built upon internationally significant published studies in regenerative tourism, and contribute to an impact case study that explore climate crisis in protected zones.
I am working in partnership with Leeds Beckett University and Mountain Rescue England and Wales (MREW) to research equality, diversity and inclusion in UK Search and Rescue Services (UKSAR). This pilot research will be presented at the National MREW conference in 2024. This research builds on studies concerning intersectionality, gender and inequality through work with the National Mountaineering Centre at Glenmore Lodge (2021) and The Outdoor Partnership (2022), in partnership with Northumbria University, which realised a 3*publication, Tourism Cases, CABI Digital Library, and *4 paper published in Annals of Tourism Research. This work contributes to a growing portfolio of research, which is achieving impact in the adventure tourism sector.
I am working with Dr B. Paddison on the next phase of the ongoing tourism impact case study “Regenerative tourism in post-pandemic times: Hopeful signs in the tourist-historic city.” The project works in partnership with the industry-led York Tourism Advisory Board. In addition, to working on 2 Institute of Social Justice projects with The Good Organisation and on a project with York Archaeological Trust.
