Dr. Richard S. Aquino is a Lecturer of Tourism and Marketing at the UC Business School, University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. He holds a Doctor of Philosophy from the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, where he also obtained his master’s degree in international tourism management, and a Bachelor of Science in Tourism from the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, Philippines. His doctoral research focused on how the adoption of social entrepreneurship through tourism changes host communities in the Philippines. His other research interests include sustainable tourism planning and development, geotourism, tourist behaviour, and recently, the decolonization of tourism knowledge production. Currently, he serves as the research notes editor of Tourism in Marine Environments and an editor of the Austrian Journal of South-East Asian Studies. Apart from academic work, he has been actively involved in tourism planning consultancy projects in the Philippines and New Zealand.
Dr. Brooke A. Porter works in knowledge management as an instructional designer with international aid agencies. Brooke holds a Doctor of Philosophy from the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, a master’s in education from Chaminade University in Honolulu, Hawai’i, and a bachelor of science in marine biology from the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Florida. Some of her current work investigates tourism as a development and conservation strategy as well as the role of gender. Her doctoral research explored marine tourism as a supplemental livelihood for fisheries-based communities in the Philippines. Brooke also serves as an Honorary Research Fellow at Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, and as scientific adviser to The Coral Triangle Conservancy, an NGO in the Philippines.