Maria Simone-Charteris

Overview

Mrs Maria Teresa Simone-Charteris is a Lecturer in travel and tourism management in the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management.

Maria is also the Placement Tutor in charge of the international travel and tourism management degree students. She completed a BSc Hons Travel and Tourism Management at Ulster University in 2005; a Level 2 Intermediate Certificate in Wines and Spirits awarded by WSET, England in 2006; a Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education Practice (PGCHEP) at Ulster University in 2016; and is currently completing a PhD on the potential interconnections between religious and political tourism in Northern Ireland.

She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) and was awarded the ‘Enhancing Academic Practice in the Disciplines’ award by SEDA in 2016.

Maria’s professional experience in the travel and tourism and hospitality industries spans over 14 years during which she covered a plethora of roles ranging from restaurant supervisor to tour guide, language trainer, as well as pub co-proprietor and manageress.

Maria’s research interests focus on pilgrimage & religious tourism; dark and political tourism; peace and reconciliation through tourism as well as food and wine tours and festivals.

She has published in various peer reviewed scientific journals and edited books, her latest contribution being: Simone-Charteris, M. T. (June 2017) State intervention in re-imaging Northern Ireland's political murals: implications for tourism and the communities. In: Skinner, J. and Jolliffe, L. (eds.) Visiting murals: politics, heritage and identity. Oxon: Routledge.

Maria teaches across a range of modules and levels at both undergraduate and postgraduate level in the areas of travel and tourism, transport, and management. She is an external reviewer for the Journal of Management, Spirituality & Religion; TOURISM; and the International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage; visiting lecturer at HTMi, Switzerland; and a subject reviewer for CABI.