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  • Adjunct Senior Lecturer Dr Rodney Westerlaken

    Adjunct Senior Lecturer Dr Rodney Westerlaken

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Dr Rodney Westerlaken

Adjunct Academic

Staff Member Details
Email: r.westerlaken@ecu.edu.au

Dr Rodney Westerlaken is an Adjunct Senior Lecturer in Hospitality and Tourism Management at Edith Cowan University School of Business and Law, and a Postdoctoral Researcher at NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences. He also serves as Editor-in-Chief of Research in Hospitality Management and is the Founder of the Westerlaken Foundation.

Key Research Areas

  • Hospitality and Tourism Management
  • Crisis Resilience and Adaptation in Tourism and Hospitality-Dependent Communities
  • Sustainability in Hospitality and Tourism
  • Child Rights, Ethics, and Orphanage Tourism
  • Cultural Heritage Management and Repatriation
  • Social Justice and Community-Based Tourism
  • Labour, Migration, and Vulnerability in Tourism Industries
  • Education Innovation and Ethical Hospitality Pedagogy

Biography

Rodney has extensive experience teaching across hospitality, tourism, and cultural studies, with a focus on embedding ethics, sustainability, and crisis-readiness into education.

Rodney’s research examines the resilience, adaptation, and flexibility of tourism and hospitality-dependent communities during crises, drawing on a longitudinal case study in Bali (2020–2030). His work connects tourism research with urgent social issues such as child welfare, sustainability, and cultural heritage management. He has published widely on topics including orphanage tourism, employer engagement with human trafficking, and the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on hospitality and tourism communities.

Alongside his academic work, Rodney is the Editor-in-Chief of Research in Hospitality Managementand Founder of the Westerlaken Foundation, an NGO active in Indonesia on child rights, marine conservation, and community resilience. This combination of academic leadership and applied fieldwork informs his teaching and research with real-world perspectives and societal impact.

His professional identity is shaped by a commitment to socially responsible hospitality and tourism, ensuring that education and research contribute meaningfully to communities, industry, and policy.

Media Topics
  • Tourism crisis resilience and community adaptation, specifically related to Bali, Indonesia
  • Sustainability in hospitality and tourism
  • Orphanage tourism and child rights in travel
  • Cultural heritage management and repatriation
  • Ethical challenges in tourism and hospitality
  • Labour, migration, and exploitation in tourism industries
  • The social impact of tourism on local communities
  • Innovation and ethics in hospitality and tourism education

Awards and Recognition
  • 2025 – Best Paper Award, Tourism and Community Development Conference (University of Johannesburg & University of Oulu)
  • 2025 – Award for Outstanding Presentation (Regular Category), ATLAS Critical Tourism Studies Asia-Pacific Conference (ATLAS)
  • 2023 – Golden Medal of Honor, (Village of Bitera, Bali) – for exemplary efforts in distributing emergency relief during COVID-19
  • 2023 – Order of the Royal House of Klungkung, (Royal House of Klungkung, Bali) – for contributions to the repatriation of cultural heritage
  • 2021 – Fellowship, (Institute of Hospitality)
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