Dr Yanning Li

Senior Lecturer in Events Management

PhD MSc BA(Hon)

yanning.li@surrey.ac.uk

Academic and research departments

School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Centre for Sustainability and Wellbeing in the Visitor Economy, Centre for Competitiveness of the Visitor Economy, Centre for Digital Transformation in the Visitor Economy, Gender, Entrepreneurship and Social Policy Institute.

About

Biography

Dr Yanning Li has a real passion for events. She has more than 10 years industrial experience in the event industry in both the UK and China. She has worked at many leading music festivals in China including MIDI Festival as well as leading festivals in the UK such as Glastonbury Festival, Leeds Festival and Latitude Festival (Festival Republic), among many other public events (e.g. NFL, Brighton Pride). She is particularly experienced in event production and operation, event risk management, event workforce, and sustainability in events.

Her academic experience focuses on event organisational behaviours and human resources, sociological lens on event attendees, well-being, gig economy, social sustainability and sport studies. She has published book, case study and articles on leading journals in the field.

Areas of specialism

Events management; Organisational behaviour and HRM; Attendee and fans studies; China studies; Gig economy; Well-being; Social sustainability; Environmental sustainability

My qualifications

PhD Event Innovations (Leeds Beckett University, UK)
MSc International Events Management (Distinction, Leeds Metropolitan University, UK)
BA (Hon) Tourism Managemnt (Sun Yat-sen University, China)
Fellow of HEA
RSPH Level 2 Award in Health and Safety at Work
CIEH Level 2 Award in Food Safety
First Aid at Work

Affiliations and memberships

Dr Yanning Li is a member of the editorial board of top event journals including:

Event Management
Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure and Events
Tourism Forum (Chinese)

Business, industry and community links

China event industry
UK event industry

News

17 FEB 2021

Meet the academic: Dr Yanning Li

In the media

Dr Yanning Li, lecturer in Department of Events, was invited by China Daily to comment on the recent running event tragedy happened in China which caused the death of around 12% of the runner participants. She emphasised again the unchallengeable priority of health and safety in running events in all scales.

Comment on China Daily

Research

Research interests

Gig economy, wellbeing, social sustainability, environmental sustainability, organisational behaviour--transient organisation, event attendance and experience (liminality), innovation, volunteers management, social exchange theory, and sport studies.

Research projects

UNWTO Funded Project €148,292 (2021-2022) Co-PI

Project title: Women's empowerment during the COVID-19 recovery.

https://www.e-unwto.org/doi/10.18111/9789284424429 

ESRC SeNSS Business Collaboration Fund £4,985 (2021) PI

Project title: Benchmarking Diversity and Inclusivity in the UK Event Industry: A State of the Nation.

University of Surrey FASS Academic Disruption Fund £2,700 (2021-2022) PI

Project: Investigating the construction of event attendees' memory

Research England grant (2021) Innovation voucher fund £6,100, project title: Educating visitors and the local tourism industry to tackle human trafficking at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. (Co-I)

Research England Innovation Voucher Grant £10,180. (2020-2021) Co-PI

Collaboration with DICE (Diversity and Inclusion in Conferences and Events).

Research England Innovation Voucher Grant £10,096. (2020-2021) PI

Project title: Development of a COVID-19 Recovery Strategy for the Most Hit Sport Industry: (Re)engaging with Fans

Collaboration with Coventry United Ladies Football Club.

University of Surrey FASS Pump-priming Research Grant (2019-2020) funded £1,980 Co-PI

Project title: Gig economy workers' wellbeing under Covid-19

Research England Innovation Voucher Grant £11,430. (2019) Co-PI

Project title: Towards an impactful national association for UK's arts festivals sector.

Collaboration with BAFA.

University of Surrey SHTM Research Grant (2018) funded £1000 PI

Project title: Sport counterfeit purchase attention

Supervision

Postgraduate research supervision

One PhD completion:

Dr. Elizabeth Ashcroft: Perceptions of Value Creation on Open Access Platforms: Performers’ Experiences at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Currently supervising 5 PhD students:

Abdullah Alnabati: Developing a model of crowd management based on group behaviour theory; The case of The Hajj

Alice Brazao: Privatisation of Public Spaces and Stakeholder Management in a Mega-Events Context: A Tokyo 2020 Olympic Host Community Perspective

Darina Svobodova (on studentship): Attracting and Retaining Gig Workers in the UK visitor economy

Wanwisa Khampanya (on studentship): Event gig workers' well-being, job crafting and resilience.

Katy Tse (on studentship): Spontaneous mass gathering events' impacts on social sustainability.

Welcoming PhD applicants particularly focusing on the topic areas of:

temporary organisation, gig economy, gig workers
event management and critical event studies
social sustainability, (in)equality
environmental sustainability, social marketing
wellbeing
attendance/participation experience

Publications

() Wood, E. H., Kinnunen, M., Moss, J., & Li, Y. (2024). Shared festival tourism experiences: the power and purpose of remembering together. Journal of travel research, 63(2), 409-427. https://doi.org/10.1177/00472875231158591

Li, Y., Xu, S., Yu, Y., & Meadows, R. (2023). The well-being of gig workers in the sharing economy during COVID-19. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 35(4), 1470-1489. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-01-2022-0064

Wu, S., Li, Y., Fang, C., & Ju, P. (2023). Energy Literacy of Residents and Sustainable Tourism Interaction in Ethnic Tourism: A Study of the Longji Terraces in Guilin, China. Energies, 16(1), 259.

Kinnunen, M., Wood, E.H., Li, Y. & Moss, J. (2022) Self-recorded conversations in tourism memory research. Annals of Tourism Research, 96, 103457. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2022.103457

Yu, Y., Li, Y., Xu, S. & Li, G. (2022) It’s not just the victim: Bystanders’ emotional and behavioural reactions towards abusive supervision. Tourism Management, 91, 104506. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2022.104506

Brazão, A., Duignan, M.B., Jarratt, D. & Li, Y. (2022) Remotely researching leisurely settings. Annals of Tourism Research Empirical Insights, 3(1), 100048. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annale.2022.100048

Chen, F., Naylor, M., Li, Y., Dai, S., & Ju, P. (2021). Festival or Sport? Chinese Motivations to a Modern Urban Hiking Event. SAGE Open, 11(1), 2158244020986155. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244020986155

Wu, S., Li, Y., Wood, E., Senaux, B. & Dai, G. (2020) Liminality and festivals—Insights from the East. Annals of Tourism Research, 80, 102810. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2019.102810

Sun, H., Wu, S., Li, Y. & Dai, G. (2019) Tourist-to-tourist interaction at festivals: A grounded theory approach. Sustainability, 11(15), 4030. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11154030

Li, Y., Wood, E. H., & Thomas, R. (2017). Innovation implementation: Harmony and conflict in Chinese modern music festivals. Tourism Management, 63, 87-99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2017.06.009

Li, Y. & Wood, E.H. (2016) Music festival motivation in China: free the mind. Leisure Studies,
35:3, 332-351. https://doi.org/10.1080/02614367.2014.962588

Li, Y. & Xu, H.G. (2009) From tourists to life-style entrepreneur: Chinese tourists in Lhasa and
Nepal. Tourism Forum, 2(2), pp. 182-187.

Li, Y. (2017) Events safety guidance. (ed) Sun Yat-sen University Press.

Case study <An emerging market for events: China Mainland> in: Dowson, R. & Bassett. D, 2015, Events Planning & Management: A Practical Handbook for PR & Events Professionals. London,
Kogan Page.

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