Organizing Committee
Conference Chair
Dr Naushad Mohamed
Clique College (Rep. of Maldives)
Dr. Naushad Mohamed holds a PhD relating to destination marketing and Islamic Tourism from Heriot-Watt University, Scotland (UK). He has recently published a paper in International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management titled “Stimulating satisfaction and loyalty: transformative behaviour and Muslim consumers”. He has presented as keynote speaker in various international conferences and industry events related to tourism policy; economic development in local island communities, and Islamic Tourism. Prior to the current post he was mainly in academia as a lecturer in Marketing in Maldives National University, Heriot-Watt University (UK) as well as private higher education institutions in Maldives. He has been the President of Clique College a higher education institution in Maldives for 21 years. Dr Naushad has been appointed as Deputy Minister of Tourism on December 2018. In his current post he is mainly involved in discussion of sustainable tourism policy developments for island communities working with government agencies, international organisations (such as UNWTO and UNDP) and industry stakeholders. He is also leading the project for development of 5th Tourism Master Plan of Ministry of Tourism.
Conference Co-Chair
Professor Christof Pforr
Curtin University (Australia)
Professor Christof Pforr is Discipline Leader (Tourism, Hospitality & Events) with the School of Management & Marketing, Faculty of Business & Law, Curtin University (Western Australia). Prior to joining Curtin University in 2003, Professor Pforr held academic positions at three other Australia universities and has been a Visiting Professor at universities in Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. Prof Pforr’s past and current research is inter- and multidisciplinary. In essence, his activities have concentrated on four interconnected research areas, sustainability, tourism public policy, destination governance and special interest tourism, all fields he has frequently published in. Professor Pforr has contributed to more than 150 publications (including 11 books) and numerous national and international research projects.
Conference Co-Chair
Professor Babak Taheri
Nottingham Trent University (UK)
Professor Babak Taheri is a Professor of Marketing at Nottingham Trent University and has held a number academic and research leadership positions in the past. He is also Honorary Professor of Marketing in Business School at University of Aberdeen. He has an established reputation in the marketing field with a specific expertise in services marketing management, consumer behaviour and tourism, leisure and cultural consumption. The innovative nature of his research traces to multi-disciplinary work and to methodologically robust measurement and assessment of key concepts. He has published consistently in internationally rated top-tier journals with high impact factors (over 120 academic publications) and held funds from bodies in the EU and UK such as Horizon 2020 and Innovate UK Research Grant – KTP. Prof. Taheri currently serves as Senior Editor for Tourism Management Perspectives and Associate Editor for: The Service Industries Journal and International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. He also is on the editorial review board of several social science journals, including the Journal of Business Research and Journal of Travel Research.
Conference Secretariat
Ms Liusha Hassan
Social Research Centre (Rep. of Maldives)