Research Invertigator's Biography

Name: Josephine Matthews

Position: Research Investigator

Qualifications:

1. Bachelor of Arts in Hospitality Management graduated with a First Class Honours Degree (1.1).

2. Masters by research in Business Studies (MBS).

E-mail: jmatthews@wit.ie

Phone:  051 834051

Biography:

Josephine has worked within the Hospitality Sector since the age of sixteen and has shown a keen interest in all areas of application from front line to senior management positions. Josephine feels her enthusiasm for the industry is food for thought in her area of research. She believes her experiences within the industry have encouraged her desire to delve beneath the surface of the working environment and gain an insight into the phenomenon of virtual networking in the tourism sector. She has undertaken previous research within the tourism sector, as an undergraduate in WIT, submitting a Thesis on 'Stress Management in Irish Hotels'. She has just completed her Masters by research in business studies and has been awarded an MBS.

She is currently working for Waterford Institute of Technology for the RIKON research group as a result of developing a keen interest in the area of academic research. Josephine hopes to further her expertise as a researcher with the RIKON group, in particular in relation to commercial research projects.

Completed Research Project:

The title of Josephine’s research project is: 'An Investigation into the uptake and benefit of Virtual Network Opportunities in the Small Business Tourism Sector.'

Other Works:

Matthews, Josephine and Kelliher, Felicity and Holden, Mary.T (2009) AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE UPTAKE AND BENEFIT OF VIRTUAL LEARNING NETWORK OPPORTUNITIES IN THE SMALL BUSINESS TOURISM SECTOR - RIKON Group. In: International Conference on Tourism Development , 11th - 14th September, Kos, Greece.