Clifford Lewis

Clifford (Cliff) Lewis, PhD, is an Associate Professor in Marketing at Charles Sturt University’s School of Business, based in Bathurst, Australia. An award-winning researcher and educator, he specialises in LGBTQ+ inclusion, rural and regional tourism, and destination marketing. Before academia, he held senior consultancy roles in the Australian market-research industry, advising State and Federal Governments on branding, customer relationships, and product development.

Education

• PhD (Marketing – Tourism focus), University of Wollongong
• B.Com (Honours, Marketing), University of Wollongong – awarded University Medal

Research Interests

Lewis leads scholarship at the intersection of marketing, tourism, and social inclusion. His work illuminates how marginalised communities—particularly LGBTQ+ Australians in rural and regional areas—experience belonging, discrimination, and identity expression. Key themes include:

• LGBTQ+ inclusive destination and event marketing
• Rural pride events and community resilience
• Millennial and regional tourism behaviour
• Psychological wellbeing and place-based stigma
• Authentic branding and consumer trust

Publication Landscape

Across 79 peer-reviewed outputs (2009-2025), Lewis’s scholarship spans tourism studies, psychology, marketing, and critical diversity studies. Recent work interrogates identity concealment among rural queer people, evaluates suicide-prevention programs, and re-imagines inclusive event design. His 2025 articles alone address older-adult suicide in Nepal, homestay networks in Bhutan, and social dominance within LGBTQ+ events, demonstrating a commitment to both local and global inclusivity challenges.

Awards & Recognition

• Conference – Audience-Voted Best Paper (2020)
• Most Inspiring Presentation Award (2021)
• Research Hero Award (2022)
• National Rural & Remote Suicide Prevention Program Grant (2024)
• Successful Rural Australia Randomised Trial Grant (2023)

Supervision, Grants & Leadership

Lewis is a registered supervisor at Charles Sturt University, mentoring postgraduate researchers in marketing, tourism, and social inclusion. He has attracted competitive grants and consultancies from government and industry partners, and regularly leads workshops on rural mental-health initiatives and inclusive event design. Editorial appointments include guest-editor roles for Journal of the Market Research Society and CABI Cases in Tourism, underscoring his scholarly leadership.

Labs, Teams & Networks

He collaborates with the Sturt Group Gender Network and maintains active partnerships with universities in Australia, New Zealand, and Bhutan. Lewis co-leads multi-institutional projects on suicide prevention, rural health navigation, and LGBTQ+ tourism, fostering cross-disciplinary teams that blend marketing insight with public-health and sociological expertise.