Sebastian Filep

Dr Sebastian Filep is an Associate Professor at Bond Business School, Bond University, where he has been working since September 2, 2024. Previously, he served as an academic at the School of Hotel and Tourism Management at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (2020-2024) and the Department of Tourism at the University of Otago, New Zealand (2012-2020), where he also held the leadership position of Associate Dean International for Otago Business School. Earlier in his career, he worked as a Research Fellow at Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia and as Researcher and Lecturer at MODUL University Vienna, Austria.

Dr Filep's educational background includes:

• PhD (2005-2009)
• GradCertTertEd (completed by 2012)

Dr Filep has developed a humanist research platform focusing on well-being, happiness, and flourishing in tourism, drawing primarily from positive psychology. His work examines how tourism experiences contribute to psychological well-being, with particular attention to eudaimonic dimensions beyond simple hedonic pleasure. He has investigated well-being outcomes across diverse tourism contexts including study tourism, diaspora tourism, Chinese tourism through Confucian perspectives, and community tourism impacts.

His research integrates theoretical frameworks such as self-determination theory, PERMA model, and biographical methods to understand tourism's role in human flourishing. Dr Filep has worked closely with the health and wellness tourism sector in Australia and with national tourism government ministries across the Asia-Pacific region, ensuring his research has practical applications for industry and policy.

Analysis of Dr Filep's recent publications reveals a strong focus on conceptual frameworks for understanding well-being in diverse tourism contexts. His work increasingly integrates cultural perspectives (particularly Confucian philosophy for Chinese tourism), examines technology's role in well-being (including digital wellbeing and webcam travel), and explores specialized tourism segments like diaspora tourism and senior tourism. A consistent thread throughout his work is the application of positive psychology principles to tourism experiences, with growing attention to methodological approaches for studying well-being in tourism contexts.

Dr Filep serves as an Associate Editor for the journal Leisure Sciences and sits on editorial boards of multiple tourism, leisure, and hospitality journals, demonstrating his standing in the academic community.

As an academic supervisor, Dr Filep serves as a Principal Supervisor for Doctoral students, as indicated by his registration in the HDR Supervisor Register at Bond University. His extensive publication record of over 100 scholarly articles, book chapters, and research reports, along with three major books in tourism, demonstrates significant research productivity that would support substantial grant activity, though specific grants are not detailed in the provided information.

Dr Filep's research appears to be conducted both independently and through international collaborations, as evidenced by co-authorship with researchers from various institutions globally. His work with national tourism ministries in the Asia-Pacific region suggests engagement with government research teams, though specific lab structures are not mentioned in the provided information.