Dr Sarah Nelum Rajika Wijesinghe

Dr Sarah Nelum Rajika Wijesinghe

Dr Sarah Nelum Rajika Wijesinghe

  • Jeffrey Sachs Center on Sustainable Development
SDGs Focus

Biography

Dr Sarah N.R. Wijesinghe is a senior lecturer at the Jeffrey Sachs Centre on Sustainable Development, 糖心原创, Malaysia. Before joining JSC, she served as a lecturer at University of Lincoln, UK and Taylor鈥檚 University, Malaysia. She earned her degrees in the UK and Malaysia, including a Ph.D. in the field of politics of tourism. Her work as an interdisciplinary critical researcher explores the intersections of gender, tourism, critical sustainability, education, colonialism, and decolonisation. A leading scholar in the tourism community, Sarah has been the recipient of several awards including best paper awards for her work in tourism and pro-environmental behaviour and decolonising the tourism academia. She is the author of 20+ academic publications, including a non-fiction memoir, titled 鈥楾he Illusions of Freedom鈥, that sheds light into the fallacies of neoliberal academia, and how it shapes academic practices in Asia. In her time as an academic, she has delivered a series of talks, trainings and presentations across Asia & Europe, and led a 鈥榙ecolonising the curriculum鈥 initiative at the University of Lincoln. She currently leads several modules, including corporate sustainability strategies, social entrepreneurship and development, and research project 1.

Academic & Professional Qualifications

  • PhD, Taylor鈥檚 University, Malaysia
  • MSc, University of Surrey, United Kingdom
  • BSc (Hons), Taylor鈥檚 University, Malaysia

Research Interests

  • Tourism & Sustainability
  • Decolonisation
  • Critical Sustainability
  • Asian Studies
  • Gender & Tourism
  • Politics of Tourism
  • Qualitative Research

Teaching Areas

  • Research Project
  • Social Entrepreneurship & Development

Courses Taught

  • Foundation of Sustainable Development

Notable Publications

Books

  1. Wijesinghe, S. (2023). The Illusions of Freedom. Kuala Lumpur: Gerakbudaya.

Book Chapters

  1. Wijesinghe, SNR. & Higgins-Desbiolles, F., (2024). A Critical Analysis of The UN SDGs. In K. Boluk, F., Higgins-Desbiolles., & M. Akhoundoghli (Ed). The Elgar Companion to Tourism and the Sustainable Development Goals. Edward Elgar Publishing.
  2. Mura, P., & Wijesinghe, S.N.R., (2024). Critical tourism geographies scholarship and sustainability. In D. M眉ller & J. Wilson (Ed). Routledge Handbook of Tourism Geographies (2nd Edition). London: Routledge.
  3. Tavakoli, R., & Wijesinghe, S.N.R.* (2019). Digital Art and Virtual Tourism Mobility: A Critical Discussion. In P. Mura & Tan., K.H., & Choy, C.W. (Ed). Contemporary Asian Expressions of Art and Tourism. Singapore: Springer.
  4. Wijesinghe, S.N.R.* & Mura, P. (2018). Situating Asian Tourism Ontologies, Epistemologies and Methodologies: From Colonialism to Neo-Colonialism. In P. Mura & C. Khoo-Lattimore (Ed). Asian Qualitative Research in Tourism: Ontologies, Epistemologies, Methodologies, and Methods (pp. 97-115). Singapore: Springer. Doi: 10.1007/978-981-10-7491-2

Articles in Academic Indexed Journals

  1. Wijesinghe, S.N.R. (2023). The Modelling of Captive Minds in Asian Tourism Studies. Special Issue in Philippines Sociological Review titled 鈥極n the thought of Syed Hussein Alatas鈥, 70, 33-52.
  2. Mura, P., & Wijesinghe, S.N.R., (2022). Ph.D. Students鈥 Experiences and Emotions in Neoliberal Tourism Academia. Tourism Management Perspectives. 44.
  3. Wijesinghe, S.N.R. (2021). Neoliberalism, Covid-19, and Hope for Transformation in Tourism. Current Issues in Tourism, Doi: 10.1080/13683500.2021.2012431
  4. Wijesinghe, S.N.R. (2020). Researching coloniality: A reflection on identity. Annals of Tourism Research. 82, 1-16.
  5. Wijesinghe, S.N.R., Mura, P., & Tavakoli, R. (2020). A postcolonial feminist analysis of official tourism representations of Sri Lanka on Instagram. Tourism Management Perspectives, 36, 100756.
  6. Mura, P. & Wijesinghe, S.N.R. (2019). Behind the Research Beliefs and Practices of Asian Tourism Scholars in Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand. Special Issue in Tourism Management Perspectives, 31, 1-13.
  7. Wijesinghe, S.N.R., Mura, P. & Bouchon, F., (2019). Tourism knowledge and neocolonialism 鈥 a systematic critical review of the literature. Current Issues in Tourism, 22(11), 1263-1279.
  8. Wijesinghe, S.N.R, Mura, P. & Culala, H.J., (2019). Eurocentrism, Capitalism and Tourism Knowledge. Tourism Management, 70, 178-187.
  9. Hanna, P., Wijesinghe, S., Pali, I., Walker, C., Adams, M., & Kimbu, A. (2019). Active engagement with nature: outdoor adventure tourism, sustainability and wellbeing. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Doi: 10.1080/09669582.2019.1621883.

Conference proceedings

  1. Mura, P., & Wijesinghe, S.N.R., (2022). Power in Tourism Academia: An Ethnodrama. Paper presented at the 9th Critical Tourism Studies Conference: With in Dangerous Times, 27th June-1st July, Menorca, Spain.
  2. Wijesinghe, S.N.R., Mura, P. & Bouchon, F. (2018). Towards Decolonization of ASEAN Tourism Studies: A Critical Inquiry of Tourism Knowledge in Malaysia, Thailand & Vietnam. Paper presented at the 7th Asia-Euro Tourism Conference: Nurturing the Future of Tourism, 14-17 November, Manilla, Philippines.
  3. Wijesinghe, S., Mura, P. and Bouchon, F. (2017). 鈥榃here are we in Tourism Knowledge and Research Today? Colonialism to Neocolonialism鈥. Paper to be presented at the 15th Asia Pacific CHRIE (APacCHRIE 2017), 31 May-2 June, Bali, Indonesia
  4. Hanna, P., Wijesinghe, S. & Pali, I. (2016). Battling nature to save it: outdoor adventure activities and understandings of sustainability. Paper presented at the South Downs National Research Conference, 6 July, Midhurst, United Kingdom.
  5. Wijesinghe, S.N.R. & Pozgaj, M. (2015). A Critical Analysis on the Implementation, Activeness and Level of Engagement of Destination Marketing Organisations across Social Media Platforms of YouTube & Google. In R. Egger, & C. Maurer. (Eds), ISCONTOUR 2015 -Tourism Research Perspectives: Proceedings of the International Student Conference in Tourism Research (pp. 255-269). Salzburg: Books on Demand.

Achievements & Accolades

Awards

  1. 2018. Best Paper Award received at the 7th Asia Euro Conference, 14-17 Nov. Manila, Philippines for the paper entitled 鈥楾owards Decolonization of ASEAN Tourism Studies: A Critical Inquiry of Tourism Knowledge in Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam'.
  2. 2016. Best Paper Award received at the South Downs Research Conference, 6 July, Midhurst, United Kingdom for the paper entitled 鈥楤attling nature to save it: outdoor adventure activities and understandings of sustainability鈥.
  3. 2016. Taylor鈥檚 University World Fellowship Scholarship

Selected Talks and Presentation

  1. November, 2024: 鈥淪ocial Impact & Inclusion: Fostering Equality & Well Being鈥, Forum held by the The Star ESG Summit, Shaping ASEAN鈥檚 Sustainable Future.
  2. September, 2024: 鈥淭ourism & Peace鈥, Forum held by the Ministry of Tourism, Arts & Culture Malaysia, World Tourism Day, 2024. Panellist.
  3. June, 2024: 鈥淒efending your research and Responding to Reviewers鈥, Workshop held by Rajarata University of Sri Lanka. Invited Speaker
  4. January, 2023: 鈥淐reating Impact with your Research鈥, Workshop held by Asia Pacific Centre for Hospitality Research, 糖心原创, Malaysia. Invited Speaker
  5. October, 2022. 鈥淩eflexivity in Qualitative Research鈥. Workshop held by Centre for Higher Degree by Research at Taylor鈥檚 University, Malaysia. Invited Speaker
  6. November, 2022. Thoughts of Young Minds Keynote speech. 3rd Asian Tourism Research Conference organised by Christ University, India. Keynote Speaker
  7. October, 2020. 鈥淥n Analysing Hegemony: Education, Knowledge Production, and Curriculum鈥. Workshop held by Far Eastern University, Philippines. Invited Speaker

Professional Associations

Editorial Board Member of Annals of Tourism Research

Editorial Board Member of Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Administration

Editorial Board Member of ATNA 鈥 Journal of Tourism Studie