Eda bids farewell: Our thanks to Dr Eda Gurel for serving on the EuroCHRIE Board

It is with sadness that we have to say ‘farewell’ to Eda Gurel. Eda has been a member of EuroCHRIE for more than 15 years and has contributed to the organization as the Area Consultant for Turkey since 2007. Eda is currently on a sabbatical for a year at the Institut Paul Bocuse in Lyon, France.

Eda is an Assistant Professor teaching marketing in the Tourism and Hotel Management Department at the Faculty of Applied Sciences, Bilkent University, Turkey; one of the leading universities in the world, according to Times Higher Education (http://w3.bilkent.edu.tr/bilkent/rankings).Eda was the Chair of the department between 2017-2022. She has over 20 years of teaching experience at various universities and platforms. As such, she offers an online course titled Marketing Museums and Visitor Attractions for the UNWTO Online Tourism Academy representing Bilkent University on the platform along with the most prestigious universities to recover and restart tourism around the world.

Eda completed her Master’s degree in Tourism Marketing at the University of Surrey, and holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration from Hacettepe University, Turkey. In 2017, she received her Associate Professorship from the Higher Education Council in Turkey. Her research interests include experience economy, cultural capital and consumption, tourism and services marketing, museums, public relations, consumer and business ethics, and entrepreneurship.

Eda has published in leading journals, including the International Journal of Arts Management, Annals of Tourism Research, Journal of Business Ethics, and European Journal of Marketing, and conducted research at London Metropolitan and Oxford Brookes universities in the UK. In 2010, she received the “Best Young Academic” award from Bosphorus University in Istanbul, Turkey. An active external consultant for the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK), Eda holds a patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office for her invention to create games and routes for cultural and natural heritage.

Bilkent University, led by Eda, won a Horizon Europe grant for 3.1 million euros under the Research, Innovation, and Action projects. The project will be carried out under the coordination of Bilkent University and aims to develop an inclusive cultural ecosystem with visitor and capacity management using digital solutions and cutting-edge technologies. Eda’s focus has been on this project for the last year and a half, and she will now be the coordinator. The project will start in February 2023 and will continue for three years. Consequently, she will have less time to commit to the EuroCHRIE board of directors. We know, however, that her continued involvement as an active EuroCHRIE member and through the work she is doing will benefit both EuroCHRIE and our membership.

We thank Eda for her service to the Board, to the membership, and to EuroCHRIE. We wish her success in her new role and look forward to seeing her at future EuroCHRIE conferences.