More than just a number - Re-Humanizing the Tourism Academy

Hosted by the Geographies of Leisure & Tourism Research Group (GLTRG), Tourism Education Futures Initiative (TEFI), TourismRESET, Critical Tourism Studies (CTS) and the Leisure Studies Association (LSA)

Format: Hybrid option on Monday only

Sunday, July 6th 2025 (off campus informal) in person only

16:00 - 22:00: Eagle and Child, York, YO1 7EN - more info to follow

Monday, July 7th 2025 (on campus or online)

08:45 - 17:00: On YSJ campus/online

About the event

The academic system we are inheriting is no longer sustainable and has reduced the soul of academia into numbers on a spreadsheet. The business jargon nowadays proliferates the academic discourse and places impossible expectations on scholar productivity. The result is an increasingly competitive and far-from collaborative environment that impacts the wellbeing of the academic community and the way we treat, care, and value one another. To paraphrase Hamlet: “something is rotten in the state of academia” and urgent action is required.

Current shifts and changes in the academic system are exacerbating precariousness and competitiveness at the expense of collegiality, collaboration, and an ethic of care. Undeniably, there is an urgent need to find ways we as scholars may empathically engage and build rapport with one another. The goal is to achieve a supportive, collegial, sustainable and caring academic system nurturing present and future scholars in leisure and tourism.

Our third annual Symposium More than just a number: Re-humanizing the Tourism Academy builds upon the notion of socializing tourism as defined by Freya Higgins-Desbiolles. The symposium calls for a reframing of tourism for the empowerment and wellbeing of communities. The tourism academy as a community is also in need of a reform that enhances wellbeing, collegiate academic citizenship and equity. We believe that there is an urgent need to embrace a socializing turn within the context of the tourism academy and adopt it as a compass guiding scholars on how to engage with their communities, with their research, and the academic community at large.

In consideration of the neoliberal structures framing our universities attempting to confine us, the aim of the symposium is to invite graduate students, early career researchers, established scholars and community partners to collectively reflect on our resistance, and advocacy for supporting a new model. Specifically, we will discuss the importance of establishing, growing, and cultivating awareness, protection in allyship, flipping metric-focused narratives into healthy and co-created counter-narratives in the pursuit of balance and modelling slowness, and opportunities to generate impactful and meaningful legacies.

Events Access & Inclusivity

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Parking

There is no parking for any vehicles on site and ANPR cameras are in operation 24/7.

We have a small number of Blue Badge spaces available, these spaces can only be used if guests have pre registered their number plates by emailing events@yorksj.ac.uk.

Registering your details does not guarantee a space, as they operate on a first come, first served basis. Please ensure your blude badge is displayed clearly in the vehicle.

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