Students tackle tropical issues

October 25, 2012: - Issues ranging from the challenges of fly-in/fly-out workers to the internal tourism market in Thailand to what makes people buy Cowboys club membership will be canvassed by James Cook University honours and postgraduate students at a special day-long conference on Friday (October 26).

The University’s Faculty of Law, Business and Creative Arts Graduate Research Conference to be held at Seagulls in Townsville will hear from 20 students about their research.

The conference co-ordinator, Professor Gianna Moscardo, said that the conference provided students with the opportunity to showcase their research.

“This is the third year we have held the conference and it allows our senior students to not only make a public presentation of their work but also improve their public speaking skills and their ability to ‘sell’ their ideas,” she said.

Grouped under six topics, the research of the 20 students is heavily influenced by JCU’s Strategic Intent of “creating a brighter future for life in the tropics world-wide through graduates and discoveries that make a difference”.

The topics are Conservation in the Tropics, Social Justice and Responsibility, Business Administration in the Tropics, Innovation and IT to Improve Life in the Tropics, Diversity in the Tropics, and Marketing and Business in the Tropics.

Some of the research to be presented includes:

• the challenges and attractions Generation Y see in fly in/fly-out employment;

• the development of domestic hotels in Thailand as the society and culture of the country undergoes change;

• measuring the motives and influences of people – particularly JCU staff and students – who buy Cowboys’ membership packages;

• the use of special attractions events such as sporting events to sell tourist destinations;

• the portrayal of mental illness in cinema, which includes analysis of scenes from films such as Black Swan and Taxi Driver;

• the need for mandatory or voluntary corporate social responsibility rules and regulations; and,

• the ways and means to harness IT developments to allow the elderly with healthcare concerns to continue to live at home rather than be confined to hospitals.

Issued: October 25, 2012