Doctor Donna James

Dr Donna James is a Lecturer in Heritage and Tourism Studies and the Academic Program Advisor for Tourism, Hospitality, and Events programs at Western Sydney University.

Donna researches precarious labour geographies at the tourism/migration nexus, with a primary focus on Working Holiday Makers.

Donna has published research in leading international journals, and her work has been cited in a federal government inquiry. She has also provided expert advice to government regarding Working Holiday Maker vulnerability. Her previous research related to Tinder Tourism, and she is currently collaborating with Indonesian colleagues in the Yogyakarta region to advance research on this topic.

Dr James is currently working on projects related to Working Holiday Makers' experiences of intimate partner violence, youth social sustainability initiatives in the Indo-Pacific region, international students' use of digital technologies for wellbeing and resilience, dating app use in tourist destinations, and hospitality, travel and tourism employee wellbeing.

In 2025, Dr James was jointly awarded the Association of American Geographers Recreation, Tourism and Sport Group Early Career Researcher Award for her paper 'Precarious Labour Geographies of Tourism: Querying Sustainability': https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/citedby/10.1080/14616688.2024.2366488?scroll=top&needAccess=true

Donna received the 2023 Libero & Daisy Soldatić PhD Excellence Award for outstanding doctoral research performance through high quality and impactful research.

In 2020 Donna received a Postgraduate Paper Award at the Critical Tourism Studies (Asia-Pacific) Conference in Wakayama, Japan.

Donna is a member of the Border Criminologies thematic group on Gender, Violence, and Exploitation, the Young and Resilient Research Centre, the Critical Pedagogies Research Group, and the Western Sydney University World Leisure Centre of Excellence. She serves as an Editorial Board Member for Tourism Geographies and is a Review Editor for the Social Impacts section of Frontiers in Sustainable Tourism. Additionally, she is a member of the Geographical Society of New South Wales and the Institute of Australian Geographers.

With teaching experience in both Australia and Indonesia, Donna has been recognised for her contributions to education, having received teaching awards for exceptional student feedback and for her contributions to Indigenous learning and teaching.