Rate My Professor James Higham

Professor James Higham was a professor in the Department of Tourism at the University of Otago Business School. He began his association with the university as a PhD student in Geography in 1992, completing his doctorate before commencing lecturing in the Centre for Tourism. Working alongside Professor Geoff Kearsley, Higham was instrumental in the establishment of the Department of Tourism, developing it from a centre offering postgraduate diplomas and certificates into a full department with a strong undergraduate programme alongside enviable master's and PhD programmes. He was appointed Professor in 2006, served as Head of Department from 2006 to 2011, and was named Distinguished Chair in 2022 in recognition of his extraordinary level of activity across his scholastic work and pre-eminence in his field.

Higham's research specializations centre on tourism and global environmental change, with particular emphasis on climate change and sustainable tourism, aviation emissions, and sustainable transportation including active transport. He has produced 15 books, 72 book chapters, and 111 journal articles. Key publications include Sport Tourism Development (2018), Tourism, Recreation and Climate Change (co-edited with C. Michael Hall), Sport tourism: A framework for research (2001), and Twenty-five years of sustainable tourism and the Journal of Sustainable Tourism: looking back and moving forward (2017). Higham co-edited the Journal of Sustainable Tourism from 2014 to 2021, served two terms on the Business and Economics PBRF assessment panel in 2012 and 2018, and was a driving force behind the university's annual Tourism Policy School. He supervised 38 PhD students, 36 master's students, and 92 postgraduate dissertation students, contributing to the Department of Tourism's 23rd worldwide ranking in the 2022 Shanghai Ranking of World Universities. Higham delivered numerous invited keynote lectures and attracted significant research funding. In 2023, he departed Otago for a new professorial role at Griffith University.