Dr Yanning Li
Academic and research departments
Surrey Hospitality and Tourism Management, Centre for Sustainability and Wellbeing in the Visitor Economy, Centre for Competitiveness of the Visitor Economy, Centre for Digital Transformation in the Visitor Economy, Gender, Entrepreneurship and Social Policy Institute.About
Biography
Dr Yanning Li has a real passion for events. She has more than 10 years industrial experience in the event industry in both the UK and China. She has worked at many leading music festivals in China including MIDI Festival as well as leading festivals in the UK such as Glastonbury Festival, Leeds Festival and Latitude Festival (Festival Republic), among many other public events (e.g. NFL, Brighton Pride). She is particularly experienced in event production and operation, event risk management, event workforce, and sustainability in events.
Her academic experience focuses on event organisational behaviours and human resources, project management, social impacts, EDI, gender, well-being, gig economy, social sustainability and sport studies. She has published book, case study and articles on leading journals in the field.
Areas of specialism
My qualifications
MSc International Events Management (Distinction, Leeds Metropolitan University, UK)
BA (Hon) Tourism and Event Management (Sun Yat-sen University, China)
Fellow of HEA
RSPH Level 2 Award in Health and Safety at Work
CIEH Level 2 Award in Food Safety
First Aid at Work
Affiliations and memberships
Event Management
Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure and Events
Tourism Forum (Chinese)
Business, industry and community links
UK event industry
News
In the media
ResearchResearch interests
Gig economy, wellbeing, social sustainability, environmental sustainability, organisational behaviour--transient organisation, event attendance and experience (liminality), innovation, volunteers management, social exchange theory, and sport studies.
Research projects
UNWTO Funded Project €148,292 (2021-2022) Co-PI
Project title: Women's empowerment during the COVID-19 recovery.
https://www.e-unwto.org/doi/10.18111/9789284424429
ESRC SeNSS Business Collaboration Fund £4,985 (2021) PI
Project title: Benchmarking Diversity and Inclusivity in the UK Event Industry: A State of the Nation.
University of Surrey FASS Academic Disruption Fund £2,700 (2021-2022) PI
Project: Investigating the construction of event attendees' memory
Research England grant (2021) Innovation voucher fund £6,100, project title: Educating visitors and the local tourism industry to tackle human trafficking at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. (Co-I)
Research England Innovation Voucher Grant £10,180. (2020-2021) Co-PI
Collaboration with DICE (Diversity and Inclusion in Conferences and Events).
Research England Innovation Voucher Grant £10,096. (2020-2021) PI
Project title: Development of a COVID-19 Recovery Strategy for the Most Hit Sport Industry: (Re)engaging with Fans
Collaboration with Coventry United Ladies Football Club.
University of Surrey FASS Pump-priming Research Grant (2019-2020) funded £1,980 Co-PI
Project title: Gig economy workers' wellbeing under Covid-19
Research England Innovation Voucher Grant £11,430. (2019) Co-PI
Project title: Towards an impactful national association for UK's arts festivals sector.
Collaboration with BAFA.
University of Surrey SHTM Research Grant (2018) funded £1000 PI
Project title: Sport counterfeit purchase attention
Research interests
Gig economy, wellbeing, social sustainability, environmental sustainability, organisational behaviour--transient organisation, event attendance and experience (liminality), innovation, volunteers management, social exchange theory, and sport studies.
Research projects
UNWTO Funded Project €148,292 (2021-2022) Co-PI
Project title: Women's empowerment during the COVID-19 recovery.
https://www.e-unwto.org/doi/10.18111/9789284424429
ESRC SeNSS Business Collaboration Fund £4,985 (2021) PI
Project title: Benchmarking Diversity and Inclusivity in the UK Event Industry: A State of the Nation.
University of Surrey FASS Academic Disruption Fund £2,700 (2021-2022) PI
Project: Investigating the construction of event attendees' memory
Research England grant (2021) Innovation voucher fund £6,100, project title: Educating visitors and the local tourism industry to tackle human trafficking at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. (Co-I)
Research England Innovation Voucher Grant £10,180. (2020-2021) Co-PI
Collaboration with DICE (Diversity and Inclusion in Conferences and Events).
Research England Innovation Voucher Grant £10,096. (2020-2021) PI
Project title: Development of a COVID-19 Recovery Strategy for the Most Hit Sport Industry: (Re)engaging with Fans
Collaboration with Coventry United Ladies Football Club.
University of Surrey FASS Pump-priming Research Grant (2019-2020) funded £1,980 Co-PI
Project title: Gig economy workers' wellbeing under Covid-19
Research England Innovation Voucher Grant £11,430. (2019) Co-PI
Project title: Towards an impactful national association for UK's arts festivals sector.
Collaboration with BAFA.
University of Surrey SHTM Research Grant (2018) funded £1000 PI
Project title: Sport counterfeit purchase attention
Supervision
Postgraduate research supervision
PhD completions:
Dr. Elizabeth Ashcroft: Perceptions of Value Creation on Open Access Platforms: Performers’ Experiences at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Dr Abdullah Alnabati: Developing a model of crowd management based on group behaviour theory: The case of The Hajj
Current PhD students:
Darina Svobodova (on studentship): Attracting and Retaining Gig Workers in the UK visitor economy
Wanwisa Khampanya (on studentship): Event gig workers' well-being, job crafting and resilience.
Katy Tse (on studentship): Spontaneous mass gathering events' impacts on social sustainability.
Alice Brazao: Privatisation of Public Spaces and Stakeholder Management in a Mega-Events Context: A Tokyo 2020 Olympic Host Community Perspective
Welcoming PhD applicants particularly focusing on the topic areas of:
- temporary organisation, gig economy, gig workers
- creative industries
- event management and critical event studies
- social sustainability, EDI
- environmental sustainability, social marketing
- wellbeing
- attendance/participation experience
- eSport
Publications
Xu, S. (Tracy), Ashton, M., Li, Y., Staunton, G., & Li, Y. (Kevin). (2024). Hotel Employee Engagement During the Pandemic: A Mixed-Method Approach. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/19389655241276511
Li, Y., Xu, S., Yu, Y., & Meadows, R. (2023). The well-being of gig workers in the sharing economy during COVID-19. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 35(4), 1470-1489. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-01-2022-0064
Wu, S., Li, Y., Fang, C., & Ju, P. (2023). Energy Literacy of Residents and Sustainable Tourism Interaction in Ethnic Tourism: A Study of the Longji Terraces in Guilin, China. Energies, 16(1), 259.
Kinnunen, M., Wood, E.H., Li, Y. & Moss, J. (2022) Self-recorded conversations in tourism memory research. Annals of Tourism Research, 96, 103457. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2022.103457
Yu, Y., Li, Y., Xu, S. & Li, G. (2022) It’s not just the victim: Bystanders’ emotional and behavioural reactions towards abusive supervision. Tourism Management, 91, 104506. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2022.104506
Brazão, A., Duignan, M.B., Jarratt, D. & Li, Y. (2022) Remotely researching leisurely settings. Annals of Tourism Research Empirical Insights, 3(1), 100048. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annale.2022.100048
Chen, F., Naylor, M., Li, Y., Dai, S., & Ju, P. (2021). Festival or Sport? Chinese Motivations to a Modern Urban Hiking Event. SAGE Open, 11(1), 2158244020986155. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244020986155
Wu, S., Li, Y., Wood, E., Senaux, B. & Dai, G. (2020) Liminality and festivals—Insights from the East. Annals of Tourism Research, 80, 102810. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2019.102810
Sun, H., Wu, S., Li, Y. & Dai, G. (2019) Tourist-to-tourist interaction at festivals: A grounded theory approach. Sustainability, 11(15), 4030. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11154030
Li, Y., Wood, E. H., & Thomas, R. (2017). Innovation implementation: Harmony and conflict in Chinese modern music festivals. Tourism Management, 63, 87-99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2017.06.009
Li, Y. & Wood, E.H. (2016) Music festival motivation in China: free the mind. Leisure Studies,
35:3, 332-351. https://doi.org/10.1080/02614367.2014.962588
Li, Y. & Xu, H.G. (2009) From tourists to life-style entrepreneur: Chinese tourists in Lhasa and
Nepal. Tourism Forum, 2(2), pp. 182-187.
Li, Y. (2017) Events safety guidance. (ed) Sun Yat-sen University Press.
Case study <An emerging market for events: China Mainland> in: Dowson, R. & Bassett. D, 2015, Events Planning & Management: A Practical Handbook for PR & Events Professionals. London,
Kogan Page.