Affective Tourism™Encounters with emotion on tour Prof. Dorina-Maria Buda

About the author

Prof. Dorina-Maria Buda

Professor of Tourism and Hospitality, and Dean Research for the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Essex.

Affective Tourism™ is a concept I proposed in my book of the same title, referring to the feelings, emotions and affects transacted in tourist places.

The concept has since been expanded in a Special Issue with Professor Jennie Germann Molz, Attuning to Affect and Emotion in Tourism Studies, and carried into hospitality studies with Dr Guy Lincoln in the open-access monograph Emotions and Affective Decisions in Hospitality Equity Investment (Routledge, 2026). I currently serve as Dean Research for the Faculty of Arts and Humanities and Professor of Tourism and Hospitality at Edge Hotel School, University of Essex, England.

I am passionate about understanding, in depth, how emotions are felt when travelling to areas of on-going socio-political turmoil and conflict, a commitment that runs through my research, my teaching, and my TEDx talk.

Watch the TEDx talk
Prof. Dorina-Maria Buda speaking at a University of Groningen event

Research focus

Tourism in places of turmoil and conflict

In my research monographs, special issues and wider work published in top peer-reviewed journals, I examine the dynamics of performance and consumption of tourist places in areas of ongoing socio-political turmoil and conflict, including North Korea, Iran, Israel, Jordan, the Palestinian West Bank, as well as eastern Europe.

In-depth understandings of the role of emotions in such places can contribute to conflict negotiation and peace building.

Grants & fellowships

Competitive research funding

€585,000
Rosalind Franklin Fellowship, University of Groningen with the European Commission (2013–2017)
€250,000
Individual grant, Innovational Research Incentives Scheme (Veni), Dutch Research Council / NWO (2016–2024)
£13,000
International Impact Award, Research England, for Museums for Peace (2024–2026)
€150,000
Scholarships from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the Romanian National Service for Scholarships Abroad (ONBSS)
8+
countries of ethnographic fieldwork across the Middle East and Europe

Career

Appointments

Academic leadership across six universities in three countries.

  1. 2023 – present

    University of Essex, UK

    Faculty Dean Research, Faculty of Arts & Humanities (2023–2026). Led research strategy across five schools and 100+ academics; served on the University Research Committee, REF Steering Group, Enterprise Board and Senate.

    Professor of Tourism and Hospitality, Edge Hotel School, and from 2026 Essex Business School. Leads the Museums for Peace research and impact programme.

  2. 2020 – 2023

    Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University, UK

    Professor of Marketing and Tourism and Head of the Marketing and Consumer Studies Research Centre.

  3. 2017 – 2020

    Leeds Beckett University, UK

    Professor of Tourism Management and Head of the International Centre for Research in Events, Tourism & Hospitality, School of Events, Tourism & Hospitality Management.

  4. 2013 – 2017

    University of Groningen, the Netherlands

    Rosalind Franklin Fellow in Cultural and Tourism Geographies, Department of Cultural Geography, Faculty of Spatial Sciences.

    Founding member and Deputy Chair for Diversity and Internationalisation, Young Academy of Groningen (2015–2017).

  5. 2012 – 2013

    Saxion University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands

    Senior Lecturer in Tourism & Hospitality Management, Hospitality Business School, Deventer.

  6. 2008 – 2012

    University of Waikato, Aotearoa New Zealand

    PhD Researcher and Teaching Fellow in Cultural and Tourism Geographies; PhD awarded 2012.

Explore the research Publications