Professor Dr Jennifer joined the Faculty of Business, Economics and Accounting, Univerisiti Malaysia Sabah in 1996 as one of the pinoeer lecturers. She is currently Professor of Tourism and Hospitality Management in the Faculty of Business, Economics and Accounting and a member of Akademi Profesor Malaysia.
She received her PhD in Tourism and Hospitality Management from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom in 2005. She served as director of the Borneo Tourism Research Centre from 2015 to 2021. Prior to this, she was the Deputy Director for the Centre for Strategic and Academic Management (2008-2014) where she was responsible for academic program quality assurance and program auditing and accreditation. She was appointed as a Master Trainer for AKEPT's Student Supervision module from 2009 to 2013. From 2000 to 2002, she held the post of Deputy Dean of Research and Development at the School of Business and Economics, Universiti Malaysia Sabah.
Dr Jennifer is an experienced tourism and hospitality researcher, consultant, trainer and academic with work experience in the area. Her research focuses on sustainable and responsible tourism, ecotourism, geo-tourism, tourist destination safety and risk, sustainable human resource development, consumer behaviour, service experience, qualitative and mixed methods research. She has published her research in high impact journals, book chapters and books in the field of tourism and hospitality. She is a regular speaker, member of an expert group and chair of a discussion forum for national and international conferences.
Currently, Dr Jennifer is a Field Expert in Kinabalu Aspiring UNESCO Scientific Committee Global Geopark—Special Action Team; Panel Assessor for Foundamental, Transciplinary and Long-term research grant of Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia, an Expert Panel Assesor for Research, Development and Consultantcy Grant by Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation Malaysia; a national panel auditor for the Tourism and Hospitality Program Accreditation appointed by the Malaysian Qualifications Agency.
At the International level, she holds several positions including Board Member and Chair for Academic Committee of the Asian Ecotourism Network, an Advisory Member Malaysia by the World Gastronomy Institute since 2018.
