Jim Macbeth

I was a Foundation staff member of Murdoch when it took its first undergraduate students in 1975. Social sciences dominated my teaching and research until the mid-1990s when I began to focus on tourism social science.

Research and teaching related to travel and tourism defined my career during the last 20 years that I was on paid staff at Murdoch – tourism social science, including issues of risk recreation, sub-cultures and policy. This is illustrated by research into impacts of events in natural and protected areas, along with research exploring traveler subcultures, including ocean sailing and 4WD desert tourism. While most of my research has been sociological, my work in history includes entries in the Historical Encyclopedia of Western Australia and Great Circle and for the book on the history of Fremantle, Voices from the West End .

I have worked extensively in tourism research, which is inherently interdisciplinary, and have worked closely with fellow researchers, including PhD students, in projects involving the natural environment, or nature based tourism, including wildlife tourism. Some of my theoretical work has involved tourism ethics and issues of sustainability, in many of its guises.

I am still (2024) involved in journal peer reviewing, writing and international online scholarly discussions (mainly TRINET).