Maria Gebbels

Dr Maria Gebbels PhD, MA, PGCert, SFHE

Academic Portfolio Lead – Hospitality and Tourism | Associate Professor in Hospitality

Key details

Dr Maria Gebbels

Academic Portfolio Lead – Hospitality and Tourism | Associate Professor in Hospitality


Dr Maria Gebbels joined the University of Greenwich in August 2016. She was awarded a PhD for a study entitled, "Career Paths in Hospitality: A Life History Approach" at the University of Brighton. She had previously gained an MSc in Food services and Wellbeing Management and holds a BA (Hons) in International Hospitality Management from the University of Brighton.

Before joining Greenwich, Maria was a lecturer at the School of Sport and Service Management, University of Brighton teaching a range of undergraduate modules.

She is a long-standing Member of the Institute of Hospitality (MIH) and Vice-Chair for a working group, IoH Future Forum. Maria is also an Honorary Treasurer for the Council for Hospitality Management Education (CHME), and an executive committee member of the Association for Tourism in Higher Education (ATHE). These demonstrate her continuous commitment and engagement with the tourism and hospitality industry and a strong belief in sharing best practices in scholarship and pedagogy. She is also a Senior Fellow of AdvanceHE. In 2017 Maria was awarded the Institute of Hospitality Award for Best Conference Paper.

Besides her work in academia, Maria had worked in the hospitality industry for 10 years in operational and leadership roles in various sectors of the industry.

Responsibilities within the university

Maria is an Academic Portfolio Lead for the hospitality and tourism programmes. She is also a programme leader for MA International Tourism and Hospitality Management, and a course leader on a range of modules at the School of Management and Marketing.

Awards

2022 – Nominated: Most Collaborative Colleague, Greenwich Business School Staff Awards.

2021 – Nominated: Lecturer of the Year Award, Student Led Teaching Awards University of Greenwich.

2021 – Nominated: Outstanding Personal Tutor, Student Led Teaching Awards University of Greenwich.

2018 – Nominated: Faculty Star Award, Student Led Teaching Awards University of Greenwich.

2017 – Winner: Institute of Hospitality Best Paper Award, Council for Hospitality Management Education Annual Research Conference, Aalborg.

Recognition

Senior Fellow of AdvanceHE
Long-standing Member of the Institute of Hospitality (MIH)
Honorary Treasurer: Council for Hospitality Management Education (CHME)
Executive Committee Member: Association for Tourism in Higher Education (ATHE)
Reviewer on a number of international tourism and hospitality journals.

Research / Scholarly interests

Maria’s research focuses on gender issues and career development in hospitality, professionalism, in-prison fine dining, hospitality in adventure tourism, and critical hospitality as a lens to understand social relations. She has been collaborating on research projects with colleagues from the UK, Malaysia, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. Maria also works closely with the hospitality industry as a consultant advising on broader ED&I concerns. She recently led an industry project which culminated in a white paper on understanding Gen Z’s perceptions of hospitality as a career choice. Her current projects are about breaking the taboo of menopause in workplaces, in-prison training restaurants as vehicles to reduce reoffending rates, and female empowerment

Key funded projects

2022: External Consultancy Project with Umbrella Training, (Principal Investigator) ‘Perceptions of hospitality as a career choice for young adults in the UK (14–21-year-old)’, (£4964.85).

2018: Internal HEIF Seedling Fund, ‘Developing a Female Leadership Programme for the Tourism Industry’, University of Greenwich, (£4,678.72).

Media activity

Maria’s research and projects made headlines in many specialist industry press, including The Caterer, HR Magazine, Personnel Today, Hospitality and Catering News, and Stuff NZ.