Dr.Rebecca Biggins
Course you teach: Tourism Management, Tourism Management and Marketing
What research are you currently involved in?
At the moment I am working on a study entitles ‘New definitions of Luxury-an application of cohort theory to understand millennials experience of luxury’ with my colleague Dr.Chen Ren.
Why did you choose this research topic, how is it important to you and relevant to society?
The topic emerged itself in quite a natural way- initially in 2016 myself and Dr.Chen Ren carried out a research study for Hiscox on how millennials behave financially and purchase financial and insurance products. The findings were unsettling but also unsurprising- showing that today, millennials are not investing in their futures in the same way that previous generations had. This led us to later reflect on the question- where are there spending their money then? We found that luxury is a key area of growth for this market, with a recent Deloitte study (2017) stating that millennials will soon become the dominant segment of the premium consumer market. We wanted to analyse why this spending is occurring through an application of generational cohort theory.
How can students get involved with/benefit from your research?
Our project is running is part of the students as researchers scheme, we are advertising now for two students to assist us with a qualitative data analysis and to develop the findings into a theoretical piece.
Why did you choose to work at York St John University?
I chose to work at York St John University for so many reasons, I wouldn’t want to work anywhere else, and it is such a special place. A key reason for me is the alignment between the University and my own values as a business educator. It is so important to me that the values we instil and develop in students are reflective of the needs of wider society and the environment. Business education needs to be about making a positive contribution to the world and not only focusing on the bottom line. The values of the University and the York Business School reflect that and this approach is embedded throughout everything we do, we are even a signatory of the United Nations Principles of Responsible Management Education, which highlights what a priority this is to school.
What has been a highlight of your time teaching at York St John University?
The highlight for me is always seeing students go on and succeed on completion of their studies. Graduation is always the highlight as you get to see all the students again and find out what they are doing now and celebrating their success!
Another highlight for me was the launch of our new Graduate 2 Director programme last year; we launched the new free, flexible opportunity to help our graduates set up their own companies. Ten companies were founded and they have gone on to achieve huge success and that is very rewarding to see and shows the difference that support like this can make to students.
Is there anything that makes working at York St John University unique?
The number one thing for me is the learning community, the students are fantastic and constantly inspire me, I love that YSJ is small enough that I get to know each and every one of them and I can support them individually, coming into class on a morning and seeing a group of people I know and want to help is so much better than a sea of strange faces that I have no connection with- it makes my job great and it helps me to be great at my job. Similarly the community of staff here is like nowhere else- there is so much support and sharing between staff in different directorates and schools working together towards the same goal- giving the best possible student experience and outcomes.