Mahmoud Sarhan, PhD
Associate Editor, Tourism in Marine Environments
Mahmoud Sarhan is a Social Scientist and applied researcher with over 20 years of international experience bridging academia, industry, and policy. He holds a PhD from Auckland University of Technology’s (AUT) School of Hospitality and Tourism, a Master of Professional Studies from Cornell University, and an MSc from the University of York. His doctoral research examined governance, financing, and tourism of protected areas in New Zealand.
Mahmoud has published several peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, with work appearing in the Journal of Park and Recreation Administration, Pacific Conservation Biology, Frontiers in Sustainable Tourism, and The George Wright Forum. He has presented at national and international conferences and contributed to the Encyclopedia of Tourism Management and Marketing (Edward Elgar).
His professional experience spans over 40 consultancy projects for clients including IUCN, UNDP, Global Environment Facility, GIZ, European Union, the World Bank, BIOFIN Initiative, Italian Cooperation, KFW and BirdLife International, focused on tourism planning, environmental economics, and protected area management across Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Italy, and the USA. He managed an $18M UNDP-GEF initiative for Egypt’s protected area system and currently a member of New Zealand’s BIOFIN Working Group alongside the Department of Conservation and Ministry for the Environment.
As a Guest/Visiting Lecturer, he has delivered tertiary teaching at AUT, UNITEC, Suez Canal University, and King Faisal University, and is committed to student-centred learning and Te Tiriti o Waitangi principles in education. He is a member of the IUCN Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy (CEESP) and the IUCN WCPA Tourism and Protected Areas Specialist Group.
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