ITEM Teaching Staff

Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences

Andris Klepers earned a Master degree in Geography (2002) and a PhD in Human Geography with focus on tourism development (2012) at the University of Latvia. He worked for one of the largest tour operators in Latvia – Impro Travels, where he developed and led incoming tourism department for three years. He joined Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences as a professor assistant and lecturer in 2004. He’s also currently working as a strategic coordinator for Gauja NP Tourism Cluster and as board member of Nocticus Ltd, where he deals with research and development in tourism.

Klaipeda University, Lithuania

Diana Saparniene holds a PhD in Social Science from Siauliai University in 2002. Her main research interests are in the field of organisations management in a changing society as well as questions in social research/tourism and recreation/international tourism events research methodology. She is involved in research projects focused on development of recreation and tourism sector specialist’s competences, also in preparing joint with scientists from Denmark and Sweden open courses for tourism and recreation sector. Since 2007 till 2017 she was working in the Group of Experts on the European Charter of Local Self-Government of the Council of Europe, Strasbourg. She is also Ph.D. students´ supervisor.  She is author or co-author of several scientific studies, monographs and more than 50 scientific publications. Fields of personal interests: travelling, listening music, reading books.

Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences, Latvia

Agita Līviņa holds a Master degree in Geography and a PhD in Economics with emphasis in regional economy, earned at Latvian University and Latvia University of Agriculture respectively. She currently works as an associate professor at Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences and is the director of the Institute of Social, Economic and Humanities Research. In 2012 she received the United States Fulbright fellowship for the research project “Sustainable tourism vs nature protection management in populated national parks” held in University at Buffalo – State University of New York, Center for Urban Studies. In 2014 she received the Government of India scholarship for English International Training program which was held in The English and Foreign Language University, Hyderabad, India. A.Līviņa has travelled in more than 40 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America for business and leisure.

Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences, Latvia

Sarmīte Rozentāle studied at the University of Latvia, in the Faculty of Economics and there she earned her Doctor degree in 1999. She’s currently working at Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences as Vice-rector of Academic and Research and as an associate professor at the Faculty of Society and Science. Until 2013 she was also leading researcher at the Faculty of Social Sciences of Latvian University. She’s been participating in regular courses and seminars on entrepreneurship, accounting, financing and auditing for ten years, all of them held by Latvian Association of Sworn Auditors.

Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences, Latvia

Jānis Buholcs studied at the University of Latvia, where he defended his PhD thesis “Individuals’ relationships in online social networks” in 2013. He teaches courses in online information environment and media economics & management at the Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences. He is also an expert in the INTERREG IVC project by Vidzeme planning region “The development information society and ICT in the audiovisual entrepreneurship (Medi@TIC)”.

Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences

Visvaldis Valtenbergs earned his PhD in Political Science at the University of Latvia, defending his dissertation on The Role of Internet Political Communication in Development of Public Sphere and Electronic Democracy. He followed a training program by the Canadian International Development Agency in 2004 and one by the US International Leadership Program “US Foreign Policy Challenges” in 2005.

Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences

After her studies at the University of Latvia and at the Universitat Konztanz in Germany, she earned her PhD in Law in 2011. She’s vice president and board member of Latvian Post and Telecommunications Workers Trade Union (LSAB) and lecturer at Riga International School of Business and Economics Administration, keeping courses on Labour Law. She wrote a number of articles for the Jurista Vārds regarding Employment Law and Social Dialogue.

Klaipeda University, Lithuania

Ramūnas earned his PhD in Physical Sciences at the Institute of Geography, Vilnius University in 1999. Ten years later he also acquired a Habilitation in Environmental Sciences at Vytautas Magnus University. He works at Klaipeda University as senior researcher and professor, lecturing on tourism geography and resort management. Among his research works, it is worth mentioning the paper published in the Annals of Tourism Research, the most prestigious international tourism research journal:   Povilanskas, R.; Armaitienė, A. (2011). Seaside Resort-Hinterland Nexus: Palanga, Lithuania. Annals of Tourism Research, 38(3): 1156–1177

Klaipeda University, Lithuania

Rasa Rupuleviciene has studied at Klaipeda State Conservatoire in the field of Management of Culture. She worked for ten years as general manager of Alanga Hotel in Palanga, Lithuania. Then joined Klaipeda University as a lecturer in the Recreational and Tourism department. She participated in workshops and training courses regarding tourism and hospitality. In 2007 she also followed numerous seminars at Artashes Gazarian – School of Management and Democracy.

Klaipdea University, Lithuania

Catalina Brindusoiu background is mainly related to the Tourism and Geography Department of Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies, Romania, where she has been working for the past ten years. As teaching assistant and then lecturer, she designed interactive classes on communication, management and services economy and organized summer universities and conferences. She earned her PhD degree in Economics at the same university with a theme on recruitment and selection and she is founding member of CACTUS, the Academic Research Centre in Tourism and Services. Besides communication, intercultural competences and human resources management, Catalina is interested in behavioral economics and started a blog on this topic:

http://thoughtprovokingexperiments.blogspot.de.

Manchester Metropolitan University

Prof. Timothy Knowles studied at the University of Surrey and the University of Luton, getting his PhD in 1999. He’s a principal lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University, where he keeps courses on Hospitality and Tourism at undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD level. In the last 6 years he took part in numerous conferences by Asia Pacific Tourism Association held in Bangkok and Seoul.

Ain Hinsberg earned his Master degree at Tartu University in Estonia in 1992. Five years ago he became tourism lecturer at the Estonian School of Hotel & Tourism Management, where he’s also the head of R&D Unit and project manager. He participated in seminars on tourism, hospitality and recreation in Estonia, Russia and Finland. His research areas include tourism policy, development, marketing and promotion, identification studies, information systems, planning, HR development and training, master plans and marketing action plans for tourism projects all over the Baltic Sea Region, but mostly in the Baltics.