Degree: PhD    

Title: Associate Professor 

Teaching and research directions: tourism development, sustainable social development, innovative methodology, tourism interaction process between subjects and objects and mountaineering tourism.

Dr. Yana Wengel is an interdisciplinary scholar who takes a human geography lens on tourism issues. A central theme of her research is social sustainability in tourism and how tourism can contribute to wellbeing while preserving the natural and cultural resources that make tourism possible. Yana’s previous research focused on volunteer tourism, nature-based tourism, wellbeing in tourism and qualitative research methods. One of her recent projects looked at the intersection of tourism and health and examined lived experiences of travellers with an eating disorder. Her current research interests fall within issues related to mountaineering and visitor experience in protected areas. Dr Wengel is interested in creative methodologies for data collection and stakeholder engagement, and she is a co-founder of the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY research community and an active Ketso practitioner.