- PhD University of Victoria
- MA University of Victoria
- BA University of Birmingham, UK
- Teaching Degree University of Loughborough, UK
Teaching Area: Community Planning; Adventure Tourism/Recreation; Cultural Diversity; Wellness and Lifestyle Management; Youth-at-Risk and Seniors Populations; Graduating Research Seminar
Areas of Special Interest: Rural and Urban Neighbourhood Community Planning; Sustainable Tourism Management
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE
- 1999 - to present
University College Professor
Department of Tourism Management
Vancouver Island University,
Nanaimo, BC - 1993 - 1999
Associate Professor (tenured)
Natural Resource Management
Program
Faculty of Natural Resources and
Environmental Studies
University of Northern British
Columbia, BC - 1988-1993
Assistant Professor
School of Outdoor Recreation, Parks
and Tourism
Faculty of Professional Studies
Lakehead University, Ontario
FIELD AND APPLIED RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Selected recent experiences include:
International and Canadian Community Empowerment Projects
Project #1 – 2004 to present. The Heart of Gold Costa Rica Community Empowerment Project: Creating a Community-University Research Alliance Between Vancouver Island University and the Los Santos Region of Costa Rica. Our participatory action research has focused on the 1. creation of economic diversification through community owned-and-managed ecotourism initiatives with emphases on agricultural tourism, educational tourism and intercultural home-stay tourism, and 2. radical change in the coffee productions models currently practiced in Central and South America. This long-term initiative seeks to move coffee production beyond the severe shortcomings of ‘Fair Trade’ to a ‘Direct Trade’ model of coffee production that creates economic equity and social and environmental well-being for rural farming communities. Funded by VIU, Federal AUCC body/CIDA.
Project #2 – 2000 to present. Creating A Regional Tourism Planning Research Alliance For Rural Communities-In-Transition On Vancouver Island. The over-arching objective of this research alliance is to create community-university tourism planning alliances that (1) share community planning and policy knowledge, expertise, and resources, and (2) create new community tourism planning and policy/regulatory knowledge, which will assist RCIT on Vancouver Island to successfully make their distinctive transitions from resource dependent communities to alternative, diverse, and stable economies. This initiative builds on tourism planning research completed during Phase I 2001-2006 through a tourism planning alliance between Ucluelet (our primary research community to date, an archetypal RCIT on the west coast) and Vancouver Island University. This project has won three United Nations Awards for International Livable Communities including the best Sustainable Community Plan for 2007. The project ahs also won national and provincial awards for sustainable community planning. Funded by VIU and the District of Ucluelet.
Social Forest Values and Forest Policy Projects
Project #1 - 1994 to 1999. The Canadian forest values survey '96: National, provincial and local public opinion on forest resource uses and values. This study assessed Canadian public opinion on all forest values and uses and management preferences. As a component of the model forest network's integrated research program, the final phase of the project specifies social indicators for the development of sustainable forest management. Principal researcher. Funded by the Federal Government of Canada and the Model Forest Association.
PUBLICATIONS
Selected Referred Journal Articles
Robinson, D.W. and Harper, N. (2006). Outdoor Adventure Risk Mnagement: Curriculum Design Principle from Industry and Educational Experts. Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning, 5, 145-158.
Robinson, D.W., Morford, S., and Mazzoni, F. (2005). The role of participatory research in rural communities-in-transition: A case study of the Ucluelet-VIU Alliance. Journal of Ecosystems and Management.
Robinson, D.W., Robson, M., and Rollins, R. (2001). Towards increased citizen influence in Canadian forest management. Environments, 29, 21-41.
Robson, M., and Robinson, D.W. (2001). Identifying and measuring local, provincial and national forest values for socially acceptable forest management. Forestry Chronicle, fall.
Hunt, L., Twynam, G.D., Haider, W., and Robinson, D. (2000). Examining the desirability for recreation in logged settings. Society and Natural Resources, 13, 717- 734.
Robinson, D. W., and Zeiger, J. (2000). Come together: Integrated forest management. Journal of Parks and Recreation.
Recent Book Chapters
Rollins, R. and Robinson, D.W. (2004). Social science, conservation, and protected areas. In P. Dearden and R. Rollins (eds.) Parks and Protected Areas. Nelson, second edition.
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS/AFFILIATIONS
Affiliate Member
- CAUT
- David Susuki Foundation
- Western Canada Wilderness Committee
- Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society
- Silva Forest Foundation
- International Ecotourism Society
- World Wildlife Fund
Manuscript and Research Proposal Reviewer
- Society and Natural Resources Journal
- Leisure: Journal of Applied Research - Associate Editor
- Journal of Leisure Research
- Canada Fitness and Lifestyle Research Institute
- Earthwatch Institute, USA
- USA Parks Research