Curtin Sarawak Research Institute welcomes new senior research fellow

Miri – 19 June 2012 – Curtin Sarawak Research Institute (CSRI) of Curtin University, Sarawak Malaysia (Curtin Sarawak) recently welcomed Dr. Lisa Marie King as a new senior research fellow and senior lecturer.

Dr. King’s diverse interests cover sustainable tourism, capacity building, environmental education and the branding and marketing of tourist attractions such as national parks and World Heritage Sites to better meet the needs of park managers, visitors and local businesses. Developing new tourism-related products and services is another professional interest.

Dr. King holds four degrees – a PhD in Business (Tourism) and a Master in Tourism (Ecotourism) from James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland, Australia; a Master in Secondary Education (Curriculum and Instruction) from University of Hawaii, Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA; and, a Bachelor of Science in Marine Biology from University of Texas, Austin, USA.

Prior to joining CSRI, Dr. King held various academic and administrative positions in Australia and the United States. She was a seasonal lecturer at James Cook University; a Workforce Development Coordinator at the Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resources Centre (PACRC), University of Hawaii, Hilo, USA; and a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service park ranger at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, Northwest Hawaiian Islands, USA.

She has also worked as a full-time marine community outreach agent in a joint collaboration between the Division of Marine Resources in Palau and the University of Hawaii Sea Grant Extension Service in Hawaii; and was education director of the Hanauma Bay Education Programme for the University of Hawaii Sea Grant Extension Service, Oahu, Hawaii, USA.

Dr. King’s environmental education programme at Hanauma Bay in Hawaii won the coveted National Chevron Oil National Conservation Award. The award is one of only ten awards given nationwide in the United States in the outstanding environmental education programme category for the Hanauma Bay Education Programme.

Dr. King’s consultancy services have revolved around the branding and marketing of national parks and World Heritage Areas and the agencies that manage them. Other focus areas include visitor monitoring and management and conducting needs assessments. She has been an Asian Development Bank (ADB) consultant identifying the life skills and income generating needs of low income women and youth in the Marshall Islands. Her resulting report received high praise from the ADB officials.

She has also acted as a consultant for the Wet Tropics Management Authority (WTMA) in and Queensland Parks & Wildlife Service (QPWS) in Australia and the U.S. National Park Service in Hawaii.

In addition, Dr. King was actively involved in independent marketing and branding research for UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee and the Australian World Heritage Advisory Committee.

Dr. King hopes to help make CSRI a highly recognised and valued institution in Asia by contributing research into tourism in Sarawak and Malaysia, focusing on a variety of tourism-related issues as well as collecting visitor data.

According to Dr. King, one of the reasons she chose to work with CSRI is because Sarawak has some of the best nature-based tourism attractions in the world, such as the Gunung Mulu World Heritage Site.

“I see many opportunities to further refine and expand Sarawak’s tourism products and services in a sustainable way that can result in a win-win situation for the natural environment, local communities and businesses,” said Dr. King.

Dr. King is a member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, World Commission on Protected Areas Tourism in Protected Areas Specialist Group (IUCN WCPA TAPASG), IUCN Commission on Education and Communication (IUCN CEC) and Australian Cave & Karst Management Association (ACKMA). She is also a member of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council.

She has written several book chapters and journal articles, facilitated workshops related to workforce development, and taught a number of short courses on subjects such as sea kayak tour guiding, environmental education, home stays, hospitality, nature tour guiding and water safety.

For more information on CSRI, visit its website at www.curtin.edu.my/csri/index.htm or call +60 85 443 939.

New senior research fellow at CSRI, Dr. Lisa Marie King.