Successful AEME Panel at the AGF Green Events Innovation conference

AEME Sustainability SIG arranged a successful academic panel at Green Event Innovations 16 (GEI16) with A Greener Future at the Royal Lancaster Hotel, London on 27th February 2024. The 1-hour panel considered ‘Supporting sustainable employability skills for current and future generations of festival and event managers’. GE16 was completely sold out, so our panel was very busy. It was chaired by Adrian Bossey and featured panel members Andrew Lansley, from the University of Gloucester, Dimitri Lera from University of Essex and Dr Jane Lovell from Canterbury Christ Church University.

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Photo credit: Shotaway, 2024

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Firstly, Adrian introduced our joint White Paper with ATHE/CHME on the future of Tourism, Hospitality and Event (THE) education in the UK. Then the panellists concisely presented a diverse range of employability practices at their institutions. Following this there was a broad based discussion with questions from a range of industry practitioners, as well as Professor Jane Ali Knight from Edinburgh Napier University. After our session, we received positive feedback and some more questions from attendees and Dimitris was able to catch-up with one of his recent graduates who was (entirely co-incidentally) working on the event for the Royal Lancaster Hotel.  

 

Attendees came to GEI from across the world and so there were some great networking opportunities and really interesting presentations from speakers including Jarvis cocker, who ended his with a song. Other academics, and some PG students, were also in attendance, including those from Oxford Brookes University and Falmouth University. The panel follows on from our successful AEME contribution at GEI15, so we hope it may become a regular event.