Dr Melanie Kay Smith (PhD) is an Associate Professor, Researcher and Consultant whose work focuses on urban planning, cultural tourism, wellness tourism experiences and the relationship between tourism and wellbeing.
She is currently based in Budapest University of Economics and Business in Hungary and has also lectured in the UK, Estonia, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. She was Chair of the international organisation ATLAS (Association for Tourism and Leisure Education and Research) for 7 years and is now Chair of the ATLAS Advisory Board as well as being on the Advisory Board of Trinet. She has been an invited Keynote speaker at conferences in many countries worldwide and has undertaken consultancy work for ETC/UNWTO.
She is the author or editor of several books as well as more than 150 journal articles and book chapters. Her most recent research focuses on the role of culture and gastronomy in urban tourism, smart cities and resident quality of life and urban green spaces and wellbeing.
Piotr Zmyślony, PhD, is an Associate Professor at the Poznań University of Economics and Business, where he lectures, conducts research, and provides analysis in the fields of urban tourism, the night-time economy, and the meetings industry. His expertise lies in tourism management at the city level, with a particular focus on destination management organisations (DMOs), night mayors, and convention bureaus.
He serves as Vice-President of the Euro-Asia Tourism Studies Association (EATSA) and is actively involved in the Wielkopolska Tourist Organisation and the Poznań Local Tourist Organisation.
Piotr has contributed to the development of tourism policies for Warsaw and Kraków, and is the author of numerous academic articles and books. He also runs the professional portal turystykawmiescie.org dedicated to urban tourism.
