Dr Abbas Alizadeh received his PhD from the university’s department of tourism last year and has won the 2021 Richard Kamman Wellbeing Prize.
In his thesis, he focused on individual tourists as agents of sustainability in global tourism.
Dr Alizadeh said he hoped his work contributed to the convergence of the sustainability and wellbeing research fields by addressing tourism as an experience that could "enhance individual wellbeing".
"My work is timely because the global pandemic has provided key stakeholders in tourism a rare opportunity to rebuild a more sustainable post-Covid tourism sector," Dr Alizadeh said.
His research involved reading widely on theories of wellbeing and how those might relate to sustainable tourism.
Dr Alizadeh’s dissertation illuminated how tourists’ views on sustainability affected their wellbeing and how their decisions, in turn, influenced the wellbeing of a destination’s residents and environment.
Responsible tourist behaviour could lead to positive psychological outcomes, not only in terms of immediate positive emotions, but also by creating meaningful experiences, he said.
Now he had graduated, Dr Alizadeh said he was looking for a position that would enable him to continue contributing to the study of tourism and sustainable development, whether in academia or a policymaking institution.
The Richard Kamman Wellbeing Prize was begun in 1986 and is notable in that nominations can be made from across disciplines at the university as long as the focus is on wellbeing research.
University of Otago associate professor of tourism Tamlin Connor said that while the prize usually honoured undergraduate research, the committee felt Dr Alizadeh’s thesis was of such high quality it deserved to win.
