Dr. Nicole Ferdinand is Programme Lead (Postgraduate Hospitality, Tourism and Events Management) at the Oxford School of Hospitality Management, Oxford Brookes University.

The focus of Nicole's research is concerned with how festival organizations use networks to move through international markets and respond to local policy conditions. She also maintains an interest in a number of subject domains that support this topic including technological developments such as big data and artificial intelligence, futures studies, project management, experiential marketing, and entrepreneurship. She has led and supported a number of funded projects to support this work including Carnival Futures (funded by King's Cultural Institute, 2013/14), the Festival Impact Monitor (funded by Bournemouth University, 2014/15), and the Serviced & Networked Artificial Intelligence Project for Destination Competitiveness (funded by Ulster University, 2018). This research is showcased throughout the textbook Events Management: An International Approach, which she co-edits with Dr. Paul J. Kitchin and is published by Sage Publications.

Nicole regularly publishers in leading peer-reviewed journals in a number of fields. These include: Annals of Tourism Research, Event Management, Journal of Marketing Management, Thunderbird International Business Review, Tourism Management and Tourism Management Perspectives.

To support her research impact, Nicole is also a regular keynote speaker and presenter for public and private sector organizations, which have included: Meeting Professionals International (Finland Chapter), Meeting and Events Australia, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Topics on which she provides expertise range from event management and evaluation to Caribbean carnivals and other diaspora festivals.

In addition to her teaching, research, and public speaking, Nicole engages in professional practice with event and festival organizations. She is currently a non-executive director for b-Side, an internationally recognized and locally loved arts organization based in Portland, Dorset in the United Kingdom.

Paul J. Kitchin is Senior Lecturer in Sport Management and Head of School at the School of Sport, Ulster University.