Susana Filipa Gonçalves

With a PhD in Tourism, Susana’s professional career has brought her into contact with several realities of events and tourism. Passages through aviation, hospitality, catering, and events management and consultancy were fundamental for her performance as a teacher at the Estoril Higher Institute for Tourism and Hotel Studies, where she has shared and absorbed knowledge for more than 20 years, in the areas of Events Management and Leisure Studies.

Susana has committed herself to studying and implementing the best teaching and learning practices for the education of event professionals. One example of this path is the development of a transdisciplinary teaching-learning model (Event Management Learning Model) with a team of teachers, which has already been recognised by the international Academia in several conferences and distinguished by the Hospitality Education Awards (2018) and the Teaching Innovation & Entrepreneurship Excellence Awards (2021). A postgraduate degree in Higher Education Pedagogy in 2021 also helped her to adapt the most advanced teaching strategies to the events industry challenges.

In addition to teaching in undergraduate, master’s and doctoral courses, Susana currently integrates the Centre for Tourism Research Development and Innovation as a researcher, contributing to the scientific knowledge of events, her research topic. In 2022, Susana co-founded EventCast – O podcast dos eventos, the first podcast in Portugal entirely dedicated to the events industry, integrating a team of four professionals and academics in the events sector. This project remains a key reference for the events industry, as it highlights and bring to the front stage the various stakeholders that are fundamental to the event production.

All these experiences have served as stepping-stones, leading to invitations to speak at various conferences and universities in different countries.

Over the past year, Susana’s priority has been to participate in international networks of professionals, researchers and educators in the events industry to enhance her knowledge about this passionate field of events.