Sociology of leisure and tourism, nation,  national identity and nationalism; tourism and regional development; tourism public policy; tourism sustainability and climate change; events studies; tourism, society and culture in Nepal and Scotland

My research sits at the intersection of sociology, tourism and leisure studies, with a particular interest in how tourism and leisure are shaped by society, culture, politics and broader processes of social change. My areas of academic expertise include the sociology of leisure and tourism; nation, national identity and nationalism; tourism and regional development; tourism public policy; tourism sustainability and climate change; events studies; and the relationship between tourism, society and culture in Nepal and Scotland. Across these areas, I am particularly interested in questions of identity, power, belonging, social change and the ways in which tourism and leisure contribute to the construction and negotiation of social and cultural meanings.

I have been an active researcher for more than two decades, with publications dating from 2004 to the present. My research has developed around two interconnected areas of scholarship. The first examines the relationship between tourism and nationalism. Building on my doctoral research, which explored the role of tourism in the expression of nationalism in Scotland, I have published extensively on the ways tourism participates in the articulation of national identity and different forms of nationalism. This work has examined concepts including tourism geopolitics, commercial nationalism and homeland nationalism, while also considering how destinations, heritage and iconic places become incorporated into national imaginaries. More recently, I have extended this research towards questions of geopolitics, tourism and the vulnerability of small states, particularly in South Asia.

My second major area of research examines leisure from perspectives that move beyond predominantly Western theoretical frameworks. I am interested in how leisure can be understood through local philosophical traditions, social norms, cultural ontologies, collective understandings of time, and debates around agency and structure. Much of this work has focused on Nepal and has sought to develop more contextually grounded ways of understanding leisure, particularly in relation to social legitimacy, morality, sociability, agency and everyday life. I am increasingly interested in developing this scholarship through a Global South perspective and in bringing insights from non-Western intellectual traditions into wider theoretical debates within leisure sociology.

My research has also engaged directly with policy and practice. I have undertaken research on sustainable tourism practices in Nepal, including a project examining the readiness of the Nepali tourism industry for a voluntary sustainable tourism certification scheme, funded through GCRF Internal Pump Priming funding. I recently completed a British Academy/Leverhulme-funded project examining the Covenanting heritage of Scotland and the reasons for the relative invisibility of Covenanting memorials in tourism narratives in the south-west of Scotland. Earlier, a British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grant supported my research on Mount Everest as a national icon in Nepal, examining its significance within Nepal's national imagination and its role in the construction of national heritage. Across these projects, I have sought to connect theoretical scholarship with policy, professional and community concerns and to generate research that has relevance beyond academia.

I have developed extensive external engagement with academic, professional and policy communities in the UK and internationally. I am Co-Convener of the Leisure and Recreation Study Group of the British Sociological Association and have been appointed Stream Convenor for Culture, Media, Consumption and Leisure at the 2027 BSA Annual Conference. I serve on the Editorial Board of Leisure Studies; Tourism Analysis: An Interdisciplinary Tourism & Hospitality Journal; Tourism Review International and previously served on the Editorial Board of the BSA's flagship journal, Sociology. I have maintained longstanding relationships with tourism organisations and policymakers in Nepal. These networks have supported knowledge exchange, research collaboration and the development of research impact.

I am also involved in research impact and knowledge-exchange activity through my role as REF UoA24 Associate Lead, where I contribute to the development of impact strategy, impact literacy and impact case studies. Looking ahead, I am particularly interested in developing research on tourism geopolitics in South Asia, the relationship between tourism and small-state vulnerability, and the ways in which tourism, leisure and cultural practices can help us understand wider processes of social and political change.

Nepal Tourism Board (Nepal)

Dumfries and Galloway Chamber of Commerce (Dumfries, Scotland))

Visit Scotland (Scotland)
Renfrewshire Council

My research is driven by Sociology and most of my work is interdisciplinary in nature that draws from political science, anthropology, geography, history and development studies.

Tourism and national identity,

Tourism in Scotland

Tourism, society and culture in Nepal