Dr. Gyan Nyaupane
Editor-in-Chief, Tourism Review International
Dr. Gyan Nyaupane is a Professor in the School of Community Resources & Development at Arizona State University. He has had several leadership roles within the university, including Associate Dean of the College, Graduate Program Director, and Dean’s Fellow in the Graduate College. He currently serves as the Director of the Center for Sustainable Tourism.
Trained in both natural and social sciences across three continents, his scholarship is truly interdisciplinary and international. He received his doctoral degree from Pennsylvania State University, his master’s degree from Lincoln University, New Zealand, and his bachelor’s degree from the Institute of Forestry, Nepal. He was an Erskine Fellow at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand in 2018, and has been a Visiting Senior Research Associate at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa since 2020.600
His research interests lie in understanding human-environment interactions, particularly the connection between communities and conservation through tourism. He has done research on various topics, including sustainable tourism, ecotourism, protected area management, public lands, natural resource management, community development, and Indigenous Peoples globally. He has published three books and over 80 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters. His research on the Global South and the Himalaya has resulted in two co-edited books. The first book, “Cultural Heritage and Tourism in the Developing World: A Regional Perspective,” synthesizes global and regional issues, challenges, and practices related to cultural heritage and tourism, particularly in less developed nations. The second book, “Tourism and Development in the Himalaya: Social, Environmental and Economic Forces,” brings together interdisciplinary perspectives on nature, society, economic development, poverty, justice, social and environmental vulnerability, faith and culture, Indigenous Peoples, women, geopolitical conflicts, heritage and living culture, attachment to place, and many other concepts to broaden our understanding of tourism and development in the region. His most recent co-edited book, “Protected Areas, Sustainable Tourism and Community Livelihood Linkages,” aims to connect some of the most pressing global challenges and phenomena of the 21st Century, such as biodiversity loss, environmental disasters, changing livelihoods, and global mobility, through an interdisciplinary approach.
He has led several funded research projects to inform agencies about participatory decision-making and community engagement as crucial elements of sustainable development. His research has been instrumental in informing policy and planning for federal, state, tribal, and local land management agencies in Asia, Africa, and the United States.
He regularly teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on Sustainable Communities, Sustainable Tourism, Critical Issues in Community Development, and Tourism Planning, and supervises doctoral, master’s, and honors students. He served on the Board of Directors for the Travel and Tourism Research Association (TTRA) for three years.
Since becoming Editor-in-Chief of Tourism Review International in 2018, Dr. Nyaupane has strengthened the journal’s scholarly profile and academic impact. He is particularly committed to expanding the diversity of voices represented in the journal by encouraging scholarship from regions traditionally underrepresented and by supporting emerging scholars around the world.
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