Rate My Professor Freya Higgins-Desbiolles

Dr. Freya Higgins-Desbiolles serves as Senior Lecturer in Tourism Management at UniSA Business, within the School of Management, College of Business and Law at Adelaide University. She joined the School of Management at the University of South Australia in 2001, bringing experience from prior roles in development, development education, and university teaching in international relations. Eligible to co-supervise Masters and PhD students, her career emphasizes innovative research and teaching in tourism. Freya's research focuses on human rights and social justice issues in tourism, hospitality, and events. Her topical interests include tourism impacts, policy and planning, sustainability, Indigenous tourism, politics of tourism, and peace through tourism. Geographical foci span Indigenous Australia, the Middle East, the Pacific Islands, and the Asia-Pacific region. Recent projects explore Aboriginal tourism, sustainable cafes, native foods in restaurants, and tourism's role in peace and conflict. She conducts engaged research partnering with host communities, NGOs, Aboriginal tourism operators, events organizers, and sustainability advocates to promote just and sustainable tourism futures.

Freya has earned the Council of Australasian University Educators in Tourism and Hospitality Fellows Award in 2013 for significant contributions to research and education in hospitality and tourism. She received a national teaching award from the Australian Teaching and Learning Council in 2009, alongside university and divisional teaching awards, and a 2014 commendation for industry collaboration from UniSA Business School. Recognized as an 'Awesome Scholar in Tourism' by Women Academics in Tourism, her teaching employs critical pedagogy to respect students' prior knowledge, challenge conventional thinking, and indigenise business curricula. Key publications include 'The question of solidarity in tourism' (2024, Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure and Events), 'Unsettling the geographies of tourism' (2024, Tourism Geographies), 'Towards understanding and managing the politics of tourism in a crisis-challenged world' (2024, Annals of Tourism Research Empirical Insights), 'Tourism, global crises and justice: rethinking, redefining and reorienting tourism futures' (2023, Journal of Sustainable Tourism), 'Socialising tourism after COVID-19: reclaiming tourism as a social force?' (2022, Journal of Tourism Futures), and 'Degrowth in tourism: advocacy for thriving not diminishment' (2022, Tourism Recreation Research).