Christian Schott

Christian Schott is an Associate Professor in Management for Sustainability at Victoria University of Wellington's School of Management, where he chairs the UN Principles of Responsible Management Education Steering Committee. His academic career includes positions as Lecturer/Senior Lecturer at VUW (2002-2019) and prior teaching experience at the University of Exeter.

Schott's research explores three interconnected domains: sustainable tourism development (with fieldwork in Sub-Antarctic, Pacific and South American regions), youth travel behavior and cultural mobility patterns, and sustainability education pedagogy. His recent work focuses on immersive VR tools for experiential sustainability education, climate adaptation in coastal tourism, and community-based tourism's capacity to advance SDGs. Current projects include a VR-based Machu Picchu learning tool and Pacific Islands tourism economic analysis.

His publications demonstrate consistent focus on practical sustainability solutions, with recent work emphasizing VR pedagogies (38% of last 15 publications), climate adaptation frameworks (25%), and community tourism development (19%). Methodologically, he employs case studies across Global South contexts with strong emphasis on stakeholder perspectives.

Major Honors:

• 2022 Te Whatu Kairangi National Teaching Excellence Award
• QS-Wharton Reimagine Education Gold Award (2020) for VR sustainability project
• Tourism Recreation Research Article of the Year (2018)
• AACSB Innovations that Inspire Award (2018)
• Multiple VUW teaching/research grants (2011-2019)

He leads several externally funded projects including 'Fostering pro-environmental attitudes through VR' (2024-2027) and 'Virtual Machu Picchu Learning Tool' (2021-2023). As Associate Editor for Journal of Tourism Futures and Frontiers in Sustainable Tourism, he shapes research discourse while mentoring emerging scholars through editorial roles.