Dr Victoria Mellon PhD

Associate Head

Summary

I'm an Associate Head in the School of Engineering and Built Environment, currently with responsibilities around Teaching and Learning enhancement. I enjoy staff development and championing inclusive and authentic teaching and learning and practices. In addition to this leadership role, I'm still researching in my 'academic home' of Tourism.

My PhD focussed on the evolution of sustainable tourism policies in protected areas, and I have recently published work in related to this around food tourism in national parks, green transitions. I'm also actively researching in consumer trends of older adults in heritage tourism and motivations of charity challenges.

About

I've been fortunate to work at Sheffield Hallam University for a number of years, and recently moved from the Department of Service Sector Management (now part of Sheffield Business School) to the Department of Engineering and Mathematics (now the School of Engineering and Built Environment) within the College of Business, Technology and Engineering.

I completed both my undergraduate (Top Up) and postgraduate degrees here, and in 2018 completed a PhD in Sustainable Tourism (focussing on English National Parks). Prior to my academic career, I worked in Europe, UK and USA in a range of tourism and hospitality organisations. This practical knowledge, combined with my academic background, meant I have enjoyed delivering engaging and relevant teaching in areas such as sustainable tourism, consumer behaviour, visitor management, heritage tourism and projects and dissertation supervision.

I have published in areas, including consumer behaviour of older adults and heritage attractions, food tourism in UK national parks, sustainable tourism policy evolution and green transitions. In addition to teaching and researching, I've held a number of roles where student experience was paramount. I have been course leader for UG and PG tourism and hospitality courses, and enjoyed acting as temporary Student Experience Lead in DSSM.

In 2023 I was seconded to E&M as T&L portfolio lead and become a permanent Associate Head in the School of EBE in 2024. I thoroughly enjoy this role, as it allows me to share my enthusiasm and champion for excellent Teaching and Learning practice. I'm now widening and developing my focus on T&L pedagogy and inclusive practice that is authentic and applied, an approach which I believe I benefited from by studying SHU.

Teaching

School of Engineering and Built Environment

Sheffield Business School

Tourism in UK National Parks, Food Tourism, Charity Challenges, Motivations of Commuter Students, Green Transitions in Tourism, Older Adults Consumer Behaviour and Heritage Attractions, Sustainable tourism policy evolution.

Tourism

Tourism and Hospitality, undergraduate and postgraduate

Sustainable Tourism Planning
Managing the Tourist Experience
Introduction the Global Tourist Sector
Consumer Behaviour in Tourism
Heritage Tourism
Ecotourism
Projects and Dissertation

Research

Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research
Social and Economic Research Institute

Charity Challenges in tourism, Motivations of senior tourists and heritage attractions, food tourism.

Inclusive teaching and learning: Project Based Learning.

Publications

Key Publications

Mellon, V., & Bramwell, B. (2018). The temporal evolution of tourism institutions. Annals of Tourism Research, 69, 42-52. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2017.12.008

Mellon, V., & Bramwell, B. (2016). Protected area policies and sustainable tourism: influences, relationships and co-evolution. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 24 (10), 1369-1386. http://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2015.1125909

Journal articles

Frost, J., Mellon, V., Stalmirska, A., & Frost, W. (2024). Employing ‘someone to be your voice’ in an artisanal gastronomic tourism business: Authenticity, cultural capital and human resources. Gastronomy and Tourism. http://doi.org/10.3727/216929722x16354101932492

Pomfret, G., Mellon, V., & Schofield, P. (2023). Developing a typology of older visitors to heritage attractions. Leisure/Loisir. http://doi.org/10.1080/14927713.2023.2291035

Niewiadomski, P., & Mellon, V. (2023). Transitioning towards sustainable tourism in the Outer Hebrides: an evolutionary investigation. Tourism Geographies. http://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2023.2283730

Stalmirska, A.M., & Mellon, V. (2022). “It feels like a job …” Understanding commuter students: Motivations, engagement, and learning experiences. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education, 30. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhlste.2021.100368

Bramwell, B., & Cox, V. (2009). Stage and path dependence approaches to the evolution of a national park tourism partnership. Journal of sustainable tourism, 17 (2), 191-206. http://doi.org/10.1080/09669580802495782

Conference papers

Mellon, V. (2018). Co-evolution, sustainable tourism and protected areas. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, 227 (227), 73-81. http://doi.org/10.2495/st180081

Theses / Dissertations

Mellon, V. (n.d.). Governance and sustainability: partnership evolution and sustainable tourism in UK National Parks. (Doctoral thesis). Supervised by Palmer, N.

Presentations

Mellon, V., & Gray, J. (2023). Revolutionizing the pedagogy and culture. Presented at: Staff and Educational Development Association Autumn Conference, Leeds

Dr Victoria Mellon