Dr Emma Delaney
Academic and research departments
About
Biography
Emma has more than 30 years’ experience as an event management practitioner and an academic and she is a Senior Fellow of the HEA and a Mental Health First Aider. Emma’s industry background includes working for a convention bureau with responsibility for managing all MICE events held in a large, multipurpose venue consisting of over 100 hireable spaces including a 1,000m² exhibition hall and one of the largest banqueting venues in the UK. Emma worked with corporate and association clients including the NHS, the Labour Party, the TUC, Rotary International, Spring Harvest and the International Brotherhood of Magicians. Emma’s research interests involve working with PCOs and convention bureaus based all around the world to improve how governments support convention bureaus.
Affiliations and memberships
News
In the media
Teaching
Emma teaches on the undergraduate and postgraduate events programmes at Surrey and has led on the following modules: Live Event Project, MICE, Venue Management and Private Event Design.
Emma is an experienced dissertation and placement supervisor.
Publications
PurposeInnovative immersive technologies and techniques are being applied in the events industry to create new experiences and services for guests. However, academic research in this field is dispersed and lacks coherence. Although event professionals are increasingly turning to immersion for competitive advantage, there is little agreement in the literature on the nature and impacts of immersion, or on how to measure these. This paper classifies and analyses the main academic studies to date in this field, and presents a conceptual model and future research agenda for its study.Design/methodology/approachA systematic literature review was carried out using the PRISMA methodology, using sources drawn from Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar. Articles were identified through a keyword search. Following this process, 65 articles published in English from 1990-2023 were thematically analysed.FindingsThe study analyses the characteristics of immersive events research, identifies its main themes and research gaps and suggests future directions to this emerging field. Thematic analysis revealed four dominant thematic areas: immersion theory, technology and innovation, event design, and attendee behaviour.Originality/ValueThis paper proposes a new conceptual model for research into immersive events, from a multidisciplinary perspective, drawing on insights from fields including hospitality and tourism, events, technology, computer science and engineering. Additionally, a future research agenda is proposed for this field, based on the identification of research gaps and the proposal of novel research questions.
This investigation reviews the University of Surrey’s School of Hospitality and Tourism Management (SHTM) attendance policy, requiring students to meet the Senior Personal Tutor (SPT) to determine reasons for absences and to provide support for the student. Research was conducted to achieve four objectives; to understand student and staff attitudes toward the attendance policy, to identify reasons for student absence, to evaluate the effectiveness of registers as a tool for wellbeing intervention and to evaluate the impact of the policy on staff wellbeing. A qualitative approach assessed staff and student views of the policy and findings connect student absences with staff and student wellbeing, indicating that attendance monitoring can improve a student’s sense of belonging. The study provides a framework for using learning analytics to support student and staff wellbeing, draws attention to the role of the SPT and contributes to literature connecting student attendance with staff and student wellbeing.
Additional publications
Journals
Delaney, E. (2025) ‘Should DMOs Use Incentives to Attract Conferences? Exploring the views of professional conference organizers on DMO use of financial incentives to secure association conferences’, Event Management, 29, https://doi.org/10.3727/152599525X17367484906354
Delaney, E. (2025) ‘Applying the Psychic Income Paradigm to Business Events’, Event Management, 29 https://doi.org/10.3727/152599525X17367484906363
Delaney, E. & Ashton, M. (2024) ‘Does an attendance policy positively impact staff and student wellbeing? A case study exploring attitudes towards a University of Surrey Attendance Policy’, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Education https://doi.org/10.1080/10963758.2024.2369131 (recipient of a highly commended paper award)
Delaney, E. (2021) ‘Towards a Model of Convention Bureau Competitiveness’, Global Journal of Management and Business Research, 21(1), pp.27-36.
Nolan, E. (2020) ‘Modifying the Conceptual Model of Site Selection in the Organisation of Association Conferences’, Journal of Convention and Event Tourism, 21(5) pp.438-457. https://doi.org/10.1080/15470148.2020.1810188
Nolan, E. (2020) ‘The Supply and Design of Different Types of Venues for Business Events’, International Journal of Tourism Cities, 6(4), pp.691-710.
Séraphin, H. & Nolan, E. (2014) ‘Events and Tourism: The role of (Imagineering) Events in Local Community self-actualisation in small territories: the case of Haiti’, International Journal of Tourism and Hospitality, 3(2), pp.36-45.
Books
Séraphin, H., Delaney, E., Smith, C., & Gowreesunkar, V. (2025). Sustainability in Event Management. Planning, Designing and Delivering. Kogan Page. ISBN: 9781398623538
Nadda, V., Arnott, A., Sealy, W. and Delaney, E. (Eds) (2022) Employability and Skills Development in the Sports, Events, and Hospitality Industry. Pennsylvania: IGI Global https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-7781-3
Séraphin, D. & Nolan, E. (Eds) (2019) Green Events and Green Tourism, an International Guide to Good Practice, London: Routledge
Nolan, E. (2018) Working with Venues on Events; a Practical Guide, London: Routledge https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315671826
Chapters in Books
Delaney, E. & Ashton, M. ‘Using Attendance Monitoring as a Wellbeing Intervention Tool’ in Fang, M., Williams, K., Morrison, A. & Harkison, T. (Eds) (2024) Hospitality and Tourism Education: Disruptions and Transformations’. Bristol: Channel View Publications.
Delaney, E. ‘Securing MICE Tourism Through DMO Collaboration’ in Ziakas, V. and Getz, G. (Eds) (2023) Cases for Event Management and Event Tourism. Abingdon: Goodfellow.
Delaney, E. (2023), ‘Venue Considerations When Planning Child Centric Events", Seraphin, H. (Ed.) Events Management for the Infant and Youth Market, Emerald Publishing Limited, Bingley, pp. 139-151. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80455-690-020231017
Delaney, E. ‘The Role of DMOs in Business Events’ in Arcodia, C. (Ed.) (2023) The Routledge Handbook of Business Events. Abingdon: Routledge
Nolan, E. (2020) ‘Understanding and Negotiating Contracts with Venues’ in Nadda, V., Arnott, A. and Sealy, W. Legal, Safety, and Environmental Challenges for Event Management: Emerging Research and Opportunities. Pennsylvania: IGI Global
Séraphin, H. & Nolan, E. ‘Venice; Capacity and Tourism’, in: Dodds, R. and Butler, R. (Eds.), (2019) Overtourism: Issues, realities, and solutions. Berlin: De Gruyter
Séraphin, H. & Nolan, E. (2015) ‘Voodoo in Haiti: A Religious Ceremony at the Service of the Houngan Called Tourism’, In: Laing, J. and Frost, W. (Eds.), (2015) Rituals and Traditional Events in the Modern World. London: Routledge