Dr Olga Junek

Dr. Olga Junek has had a long academic career with Victoria University in the areas of tourism and events management. As an academic she taught across many units at UG and PG level and was well liked by students as an approachable, competent and experienced lecturer. During her time at VU she was involved in curriculum development, more recently in the area of a new Master's Degree, Blended Learning and the use of new technology in teaching.

In addition to her teaching and research in Australia, Olga has also taught extensively in Germany, the last 2 years at Munich University of Applied Sciences where she continues to hold a Visiting Professor role.

Her involvement in the tourism, hospitality and events industries started many years ago and has been honed through active participation in industry workshops, meetings and conferences. Sh has been a judge in the RACV Tourism Awards for the last 3 years. She has encouraged her students to take up networking opportunities and volunteering positions alongside their studies and many of her students now hold excellent positions within the industry.

Olga's research interests are strongly aligned to her teaching philosophy and include international students and the internationalisation of curricula, events management education, cross-cultural dimensions of tourism and events management and the role of volunteering and voluntourism.

Publications

Jennings, G., Junek, O., Smith, M.A., Kensbock, S. and Kachel, .U. (2017), “From dialogue to ‘being in and of’ a qualitative research culture: lived experiences of research students” in Handbook of Teaching and Learning in Tourism. Eds. Beckendorff, P. and Zehrer, A. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Fang, M., Nguyen.T.H and Junek, O. (2016) “Evaluating Tourism Leadership Development Programs: A Conceptual Framework”. ANZMAC Conference

Fang, M., Nguyen, T.H. and Junek.O. (2017) Preliminary evaluation of a tourism- based leadership development program. CAUTHE Conference. University of Otago February 2017.

Junek, O. (2014). “We don’t do that back home”: International students and volunteering in Event Volunteering International perspectives on the event volunteering experience.Eds. Karen A. Smith, Leonie Lockstone- Binney, Kirsten Holmes and Tom Baum

Lockstone-Binney, L. Whitelaw, P. Robertson, M., Junek, O. and Michael, I. (2014). The Motives of Ambassadors in Bidding for International Association Meetings and Events. Event Management, Volume 18, Number 1, 2014, pp. 65-74.

Robertson, M; Junek, O.; Lockstone-Binney, L. Introduction: Professionalization and Event Management Event Management, Volume 18, Number 1, 2014, pp. 1-3

Junek, O. & Killion. L. (2012) Grounded Theory. In L. Dwyer, A.Gill and N.Seeteram (eds.) Handbook Of Research Methods In Tourism - Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches. Elgar Publishing, UK

Robertson, M., Junek, O. and Lockstone-Binney, L. (2012).Is this for real? Authentic learning for the challenging events environment, Journal of Teaching in Travel and Tourism, Vol.12(3)pp. 225-241

Jennings, G., Kensbock,S., Junek,O., Radel, K. And Kachel, U. (2010).Lived experiences of early career researchers: Learning about and doing grounded theory. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management,17

Junek, O., Lockstone,L. and Mair,J. (2009)Two perspectives on event management employment: Student and employer insights into the skills required to get the job done!. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 16 ( 4)

Jennings, G. and Junek, O. (2007) Grounded theory: innovative methodology or a critical turning from hegemonic methodological praxis in tourism studies? In Ateljevic, Morgan and Pritchard (eds.) Critical turns in tourism studies - innovative methodologies (2006). Elsevier

Professional experience

• Education
• Airline and Hospitality Industry
• Small Business

Special recognition

• 2011, Faculty of Business and Law Award for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (Team submission)
• 2010, Australian Event Award for Best Education or Training Program, for Victoria University’s Bachelor of Business (Event Management) (Team submission)
• 2010, Highly Commended, Miles Clarke Business Events Communication Award, Business Events Council of Australia (Team submission)
• 2008 Recipient of the Faculty of Business & Law Peak Award for Outstanding Engagement (Team leader)

Teaching responsibilities

Teaching & learning engagement activities

• Offshore Course Co-ordinator, Angell Business School, Freiburg, Germany
• Course Co-ordinator (Tourism and Event Management) (2003-2007))
• Master’s Thesis examiner Staff and student mentor
• Member International Committee Faculty of Business and law
• the Hospitality and Tourism Cluster Co-ordinating Committee and the VU Alumni Advisory Group
• Editor of Degrees, bi-annual publication of the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Marketing

Professional membership

• Council of Australian University Tourism and Hospitality Education (CAUTHE)
• International Society of Travel and Tourism Educators (ISTTE)
• BEST Education Network