Dr. Antonio Bramante holds a Ph.D. in Leisure studies and Parks management (Parks and Recreation) at the Pennsylvania State University (Brazilian National Council of Scientific Research Scholarship). He has taught Physical Education at all levels for more than 10 years.
During his first experiences in the public sector, he collaborated in the implementation of one of the first public policies in the leisure field in Brazil in the city of Sorocaba, São Paulo State.
Dr. Bramante has served as Head of the College of Physical Education at the YMCA of Sorocaba for five years and Head of Department and Graduate Studies for 15 years, until retirement (2005).
After retirement, he has worked for the Municipality of Sorocaba, occupying positions such as Secretary of Education and Culture, Secretary of Childhood and Adolescence, Secretary of Sports and Leisure and Secretary of Youth. Dr. Bramante has also been an invited professor at the Laboratory of Sport and Leisure Management at the University of Brasilia – College of Physical Education.
During the past 10 years he has done voluntary work as member of the Rotary Club Sorocaba-Manchester (as Chairman of the Youth Exchange Program and the New Generation Service Exchange Program) and as member of the Cultural and Research Commission of the Panathlon International (sports service club).
Dr. Arianne Reis started her career as a physical education teacher and sports coach working in low-income communities in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Her work focused on providing opportunities for active leisure for children and youth from disadvantaged backgrounds and for those with physical and mental disabilities with the aim of engaging them in positive experiences and in healthy behaviours.
After 10 years working as a practitioner, both as a teacher and also as project manager at state departments of sport, Arianne moved to New Zealand to pursue a PhD focusing on outdoor recreation, using leisure studies as a foundation for the study. After her PhD completion, Arianne moved to Australia to join Southern Cross University as a Research Fellow, and since then has made Australia her new home. Arianne is currently Director of Academic Program for the Master of Public Health and Master of Health Sciences programs at Western Sydney University, while also continuing to teach and research in health and leisure sciences.
Her current research focuses on the ways active leisure pursuits can promote healthy living, environmental awareness and social justice. Dr Reis is also engaged in research focusing on healthy universities and student learning experiences, particularly focused on student mental wellbeing.
Dr. Atara Sivan is Head of the Department of Education Studies of Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong. She is the President and Senior Fellow of the World Leisure Academy, the Editor-in-Chief of the World Leisure Journal and the founder and Chairperson of World Leisure Organization – Hong Kong Chapter.
Her research interests are in the areas of leisure education, youth development, learning environments, learning communities and teacher education. She has contributed internationally to the development of leisure education by being the scientific adviser to the development of the first comprehensive leisure education curricula for schools in Israel.
Professor Sivan has also published extensively on her areas of academic endeavour. Among her co-authored books are: Leisure Education Towards the 21st Century; Leisure Education, Community Development and Populations with Special Needs; and, Leisure Education in School Systems. She is the recipient of numerous international awards including the George Torkildsen Literary Award, Hillel Ruskin Memorial Scholar Lecture Award and the 2015 Knowledge Transfer Award for her contribution to the advancement of concepts related to leisure and leisure education internationally.
Dr. Cari E. Autry is an Assistant Professor at the College of Health and Human Performance at East Carolina University. She got her Ph.D. on Health and Human Performance: Concentration in Therapeutic Recreation from The University of Florida. Her research interests are: Positive youth development, families, and communities; Therapeutic use of sailing for youth and people with disabilities; Virtual reality and simulation for youth and people with disabilities; Adventure, outdoor recreation, therapeutic wilderness intervention; Community youth development, poverty and homelessness; and Theoretical frameworks of quality of life, ecological perspective, social capital, and community social organization.
Dr. Cristina Ortega Nuere is the Chief Scientific and Operating Officer of World Leisure Organization since January 2016. She combines her principal professional activity with teaching at master level at the Universitat Oberta of Catalunya. Doctor in Leisure and Human Development, with a Master’s degree in Leisure Management, she graduated from the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy from the University of Deusto, Spain, and completed her studies in London, Middlesex and at Westminster University.
She has combined her academic activity as researcher and professor for over two decades at the University of Deusto -over 50 research projects, dozens of publications and editor-in-chief of several scientific journals- with other institutional responsibilities. She was for 4 years the President of ENCATC, the leading European Network of Cultural Management and Policy, and the Chair of ENCATC’s Policy Group Monitors of Culture, made up of over 40 cultural observatories worldwide. She is a specialist in the evaluation of cultural projects and became a Jury Member of the European Capitals of Culture.
In the Basque Country, she has been a member of the Basque Council of Culture and an Expert Evaluator of the Basque Cultural Observatory for 10 years. She usually participates as a speaker in international scientific conferences worldwide and she is the author of the reference book Observatorios Culturales. Creación de Mapas de lnfraestructuras y Eventos (Barcelona: Ariel, 2010), where she developed a cultural infrastructures and events utility model that has been applied in different cities and countries. Her area of specialization is leisure and culture, policies and evaluation.
Prof. Douglas A. Kleiber is a Professor of Counseling and Human Development Services and adjunct faculty in Psychology and Gerontology at the University of Georgia. His research on the psychology of leisure has resulted in over 80 articles in refereed journals, as well as 25 chapters and 4 books, including Leisure Experience and Human Development (Basic Books, 1999) and A Social Psychology of Leisure (with Gordon Walker and Roger Mannell, Venture, 2012). His research focus in the last years has been on the appropriation of leisure experience in adjusting to negative life events and other developmental transitions (i.e. retirement).
Kleiber’s past positions include Director of Leisure Behaviour Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois, Head of Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies at the University of Georgia, and Director of the School of Health and Human Performance at UGA. He is a charter member of the Association of Psychological Science, a past president of the Academy of Leisure Sciences and a recent inductee into the World Leisure Academy, having been a general member of WLO since 1983.
Gıyasettin Demirhan is working at Hacettepe University – Faculty of Sport Sciences as a Professor. He serves as Head of Physical Education and Sport Teacher Education Department. Also, he is a former president of the Turkish Sport Sciences Association and former Dean of Hacettepe University – Faculty of Sport Sciences. He is a member of some international scientific associations like AIESEP, ECSS, ICHPES, FIEP. Moreover, he has been involved with photography and some outdoor-adventure sports like climbing, mountaineering, hiking, trekking and skiing for almost 40 years. Currently his research interests are critical thinking, instructional technology in PE and sports, relationship among physical activity, academic performance and cognitive process, risk perception in outdoor-adventure sports.
He has published 25 articles in international refereed journals and 46 articles in national referred journals. Also, he has two books and 13 book chapters in physical education and sport pedagogy. He has presented more than 100 papers in international and national scientific congresses and completed 14 international and national scientific projects in his own research field. He has also participated as keynote and invited speaker at many national and international scientific meetings.
Dr. Jo An M. Zimmermann is an Associate Professor and Undergraduate Coordinator for the Recreation Administration program at Texas State University. As an academic, her desire is to help prepare professionals for the field so that they become capable and passionate about planning and conducting quality recreation programs and services. She believes it is her job to help students gain a wider view of the world as well as prepare them to succeed in the workplace after graduation.
Teaching in an International Context: Academic Program Director for Study Abroad programs to Australia and New Zealand, 2017 and 2019. Invited Foreign Expert to Beijing Sport University: 2017, 2018, 2019. A recreation administrator is concerned with how multiple programs work together for the benefit of a community or targeted group of users. The teaching and research she prefers is applied in the sense that it relates to professional practice. Her goal is to conduct research that will improve the planning and delivery of community-based recreation services. She would like to focus her efforts on administrative foundations, external influences on administration, organizational functions, personnel administration, fiscal administration and administrative responsibility.
Ms. Joanne Schroeder is a faculty member in the Department of Recreation and Tourism, Vancouver Island University, Canada since 2000. Numerous roles have included administration, teaching, research and supervision, community engagement and development of experiential learning such as field schools and study tours. She is currently the Graduate Chair of the Master of Arts in Sustainable Leisure Management and the Director of the World Leisure Centre of Excellence at Vancouver Island University.
Passionate about community involvement and industry connections, her previous experiences include private consulting, training and professional development and predominantly working in municipal recreation departments for over 20 years across Western Canada. Joanne has a MA in Leisure Services Management from University of Victoria, Canada. As a recent recipient of the Provost Award for Excellence in Teaching she continues to challenge her teaching skills, student engagement and professional development. Involved with WLO as a member and currently the Vice President of the WLO board and executive board member, is it a pleasure and privilege to work with this organization and represent you in the amazing field of improving the human condition through leisure.
Dr. John Tower has been working in the leisure, recreation and sport industry for nearly 40 years with a particular interest in community leisure and recreation participation and the delivery of community sport and recreation services. His research has usually focused on leisure management and has been designed to assist community leisure managers to improve how they manage leisure, recreation and sport services. His involvement in leisure and recreation academia is driven by a keen interest in the capacity of positive leisure and recreation experiences to contribute to a community’s quality of life. John is currently an Honorary Research Fellow in Victoria University’s Institute of Health and Sport. He is also the Manager of Research for leisure consulting company, Bon Leisure, and Director of JRT Leisure.
Dr. Lawal Marafa, is a professor at the Department of Geography and Resource Management, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is also the Director, Postgraduate programme in Sustainable Tourism. Dr. Marafa was awarded the “Exemplary Teacher Award” for in 2005 and received the Royal Belum Inaugural Ecotourism Award, Perak, Malaysia, 2007. He served as a facilitator at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting, in Hong Kong, 2008. Dr. Marafa served on the Board of Directors of the World Leisure Organization (2006-2013).
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Dr. Marafa worked with various organizations in Nigeria including as a Principal Land Use Planning Officer at the World Bank assisted Sokoto Agriculture and Rural Development Authority; and as a Principal Forest Planning Officer, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Federal Department of Forestry, Abuja. Although residing in Hong Kong, Dr. Marafa acts as a bridge between Africa and Asia. He serves as the regional coordinator for the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, Business Group (NEPAD-BG), and also coordinates for the African Business Roundtable in Asia. He has attended the African Development Bank Board of Governors meeting in Shanghai, 2007; and also attended the African World Business Congress, Arusha – Tanzania in 2007.
Dr. Marafa has served as a resource person and keynote/invited speaker at the TICAD-UNDP-World Bank Fifth Africa-Asia Business Forum for Sustainable Tourism (AABF V) hosted in Kampala, Uganda in 2009. Dr. Marafa’s teaching and research interests cover Tourism, Environment and Climate Change, Ecotourism, Leisure, Recreation Planning and Management, Agriculture and Natural Resource Management, Sustainable Development etc. Over the years, Dr. Marafa published over 70 articles in various outlets and presented at about 30 international conferences.
Dr. Lénia Marques is Assistant Professor of Cultural Organizations and Management, at the Erasmus University Rotterdam (The Netherlands). With over 15 years of experience in education, research and international consultancy, she has worked previously as Senior Lecturer in Events and Leisure at Bournemouth University (UK) and Lecturer of Imagineering and Research at Breda University of Applied Sciences (The Netherlands).
She is currently a member of the Board of Directors of World Leisure Organization. She was the founder of the World Leisure Organization Special Interest Group (SIG) in Leisure Innovation in 2018, and she is currently the chair. Lénia Marques is also involved internationally with public and private projects, organizations and networks. She is the co-editor of Intercultural Crossings (2012), special issue on Creative tourism (2012), Event Design: Social Perspectives and Practices (2014), Creative Districts around the World (2014), and special issue on Leisure and Innovation (2019, forthcoming). She is the author of several publications in comparative literature, events studies, leisure, creative tourism and creative industries, such as “Co-creating the city: Digital technology and creative tourism” (2017, co-authored) or “Making the literary city (2019, forthcoming)”, as well as reports on current challenges, such as “Synergies between culture and tourism” (2018, co-author).
Prof. Dr. Ling Ping is a Professor and PHD tutor of the School of Physical Education and Health at Hangzhou Normal University, the People’s Republic of China. His Ph.D. was completed at the University of Zhejiang. He was selected as a member of the World Leisure Board of Directors in Oct. of 2006 and was selected as an executive committee member of the World Leisure in March of 2011. Prof. Dr. Ling have contributed a great deal for promoting leisure, especially in leisure research, leisure sport management, leisure physical education as well as in the field of leisure physical activity and leisure sport in China. He helped to organize many kinds of leisure activities and programs such as 2006 Hangzhou World Leisure Congress, 2007China culture diversity and leisure International Forum, 2008 China Leisure Economy International Forum. Dr. Ling was invited to serve as one of two distinguished members of a Panel in evidence based Consensus Symposium on the topic of Leisure and the Quality of Life: Impacts upon Social, Economic, and Cultural Development. He was responsible for the first stage of the WL International Leisure Constraints Research Project in China with Professors Garry Chick and Prof. Godbey at Penn State. He has given numerous presentations in China and has published more than 130 research papers in different kind of journal on Leisure sports, sports management as well as sports sociology. He visited Germany 5 times since 1991 and had 3 years experiences study and research in Kiel University and also visited US more than 5 times and more than 20 countries in the world. He had great experiences in responsible for national social research projects and got some distinguished awards from national education administration and national sports bureau. He joined the team of formal Chair Mr.Derek Casey and Prof. Chris and attended a lot of negotiation meeting with Hangzhou Municipal Government and Qingdao Municipal Government as well as Chengdu Municipal Government.
Dr. Mische Lawson serves as a member of the exam management committee of the National Council for Therapeutic Recreation Credentialing. She has also served as Chair of the American Therapeutic Recreation Association’s Research Institute and Research Team. Apart from being an Associate Professor of the Occupational Therapy Education department at the University of Kansas, Dr. Mische Lawson serves as instructor and curriculum program manager for the Therapeutic Science program. Additionally, Lisa is lead instructor for OCTH 783 Evidence-Based Practice, OCTH 725 Research Process, and OTD 875 Professional Development. She assists with courses OCTH 704 Planning and Intervention in Occupational Therapy, OCTH 765 Family and Community Service Systems, and OCTH 790 Research Practicum.
Dr. Mische holds a doctorate in Therapeutic Science from the University of Kansas. Her research focuses on the benefits of recreation participation, particularly for vulnerable populations. Currently she is developing and investigating on programs for children with autism-spectrum disorders and adults receiving blood and marrow transplantation.
Dr. Marie Young is a staff member of the Department of Sport Recreation and Exercise Science, University of the Western Cape, for the past 9 years now. She majored at undergraduate level with recreation and industrial psychology resulting in a career at the City of Johannesburg, the local authority in Johannesburg, South Africa, as a Sport and Recreation Officer. She developed a passion working with youth and decided to share her knowledge and expertise with the youth by becoming an academic. She obtained her Doctorate degree in 2014 with a focus on therapeutic recreation and was commended for her contribution to this field of study in African context.
Dr. Marie Young lectures on the undergraduate and postgraduate courses in the field of sport and recreation management and has a research interest in community recreation, campus recreation and therapeutic recreation as a means to promote health, youth development and changing environments making communities more liveable. Conducting research and supervision in the field of sport and recreation requires an individual to be diverse and to supervise postgraduate students across disciplines in the Faculty. The diversity of the field further leads to her involvement in various interdepartmental and inter-institutional projects nationally and internationally.
She presented papers at conferences and submitted collaborative grant applications that have been successful. She further provides training to recreational workers in the City of Cape Town as part of a collaborating agreement with the four institutions in the Western Cape and the City for the development of community based recreational programs. Her contributions to these projects are aligned with her expertise in sport and recreation and more specific leisure and recreation, therapeutic recreation, health promotion and quality of life, physical activity, leisure education and youth development (especially focusing on youth at risk and persons with disabilities).
Dr. Miklos Banhidi is currently working as Professor and Coordinator for the Recreation and Health Promotion program at the Szechenyi University in Gyor/Hungary. His teaching areas are the Theory and Practice of Recreology, Geography of Sport, Tourism and Recreation, Project Development. His research interest is Community development to improve the quality of life of the citizens and visitors. In his work he is focusing on how to design and manage healthy environments and organize powerful activities to achieve positive benefits.
Dr. Banhidi has written numerous books and articles on Recreation, Geography of Sport, Health and Tourism. He used to work as visiting professor at the Karl Franzens University in Graz, Austria, at the University of Northern Iowa in the US, Zhejiang University China and gave numerous lectures at several foreign partner universities. He initiated and managed with his partners several student and youth exchange projects supported by the European Union. Dr. Banhidi used to serve as the Vice President of the United Games International, organizing festivals and workshops on peace and understanding around the world.
Since 2009, he is an elected member in the board of World Leisure Organization. He is committed to help the organization grow and tries to involve more young people into the organization.
Dr. Stephen Anderson completed his degrees in Recreation and Park administration, with a specialization in therapeutic recreation, at Indiana State University and the University of Maryland. He has taught for 44 years at Caldwell Community College, University of Maryland, Indiana University, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, University of Florida, Barry University, and Florida International University. He also held visiting faculty appointments at the University of Wisconsin, Southern Connecticut State University, and the University of Waterloo, in Ontario. He has served as a department Chair, Associate Dean, Interim Dean, Assistant to the provost, Director of academic integrity, and Director of academic advisor development.
Dr. Anderson’s research interest is community development. More specifically, he is interested in building social capital to enhance health and well-being. He has garnered over 60 publications and over 150 presentations.
His service most notably includes: member of the Executive Committee of WLO; President of the National Therapeutic Recreation Society; member of the Board of Directors of the American Association for Leisure and Recreation; member of WLJ, AJESS, TRJ, LT/JOPERD, and APAQ, editorial boards; program manager of the WLO Thomas and Ruth Rivers International Scholarship Committee; and member of the NRPA/AALR Council on Accreditation.
Teresa Freire is an Assistant Professor at the University of Minho – Department of Applied Psychology, School of Psychology (Portugal). Freire teaches course units of the basic and applied cycle of the Integrated master’s in Psychology.
Moreover, she coordinates the Positive Development and Optimal Functioning Research Team of the Psychology Research Center, guiding several master’s and doctoral thesis. Freire is also in charge of coordinating the University of Minho’s Peer Tutorships Project and she performs individual and group psychological intervention, within the scope of APSI (Psychology Association of the University of Minho).
Dr. Trudie Walters is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Tourism at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. Her research platform is centred on events and leisure as interdisciplinary lenses through which to understand the inner workings and values of society. She has five distinct programmes of research: quality of life and social wellbeing, gendered experiences, governance, policy and practice, representations of place and society, and luxury. These programmes are all firmly positioned within a social science framework, while clearly linking into the applied reality of events and leisure as social phenomena, areas of academic research, global industries, and practices.
Trudie serves on the World Leisure Organisation Board of Directors, as the Member Engagement Officer on the Board of the Australia and New Zealand Association for Leisure Studies and is on the Editorial Boards of a number of journals in her field.
Yvonne Klerks is lecturer at Breda University of Applied Sciences (BUAS), Academy for Leisure. Her main topics of lecturing are entrepreneurship, operations management and productivity. She has been involved in research about productivity and project development in the tourism and leisure industry. She was invited lecturer in different universities such as Manchester Metropolitan University (UK), University of South Alabama (US) and Zhejiang University (China).
Yvonne Klerks holds an MSc degree in business economics and marketing from Tilburg University in the Netherlands. Besides being a lecturer Yvonne is also International Coordinator of the Academy for Leisure.In this position she has contact with universities and organizations in the tourism and leisure industry worldwide and has initiated many different international projects. For BUAS Academy for Leisure she was the driving force behind the election of the MSc Leisure Studies as the third World Leisure Center of Excellence, accredited by the World Leisure Organization in September 2012. Since 2014 she is member of the Board of Directors of the World Leisure Organization. Within the WLO Board of Directors she is Treasurer and member of the Executive Committee. She is also Chair of the Educational Services Committee, which includes the World Leisure Centers of Excellence network. One of the activities of this network is a field school for future leaders, and the most recent project was in Durban, South Africa, June 2016 during the WL Congress.
Qian Guo PhD in Economics, an associate professor and master tutor of Beijing Wuzi University, has long been committed to research related to leisure economy and economic statistics. In October 2009, she published an academic monograph entitled Leisure Needs under the Dual Perspective of Income and Time and has written more than 50 academic papers related to leisure economy and economic statistics. Serving as a researcher at Leisure Economy Research Centre of Renmin University of China, which was founded in February 2004 and a managing director of Beijing Applied Statistics Association, she is also a director of Market Research Branch of Commerce Statistical Society of China, and a member of Statistical Education Society of China.
Haixia Zhang Associate Professor at the School of Tourism and Urban-rural Planning, at Zhejiang Gongshang University. Research interests include public leisure, tourism regulation and national parks. Publishing over 30 first-authored papers and books. Board Member and Vice Secretary of Zhejiang Association of Leisure Studies; Fellow of Geographical Society of China; Fellow of Geographical Society of Zhejiang, China.
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