Portalegre Polytechnic University
Rui Carvalho
Rui Carvalho holds a PhD in Tourism from the University of Aveiro, Portugal, focusing on the sociological development of Creative Tourism. He is a collaborative researcher at CARE – Research Centre on Health and Social Sciences, Portalegre Polytechnic University (PPU). Also, he is a full researcher at the Research Unit on Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policies (GOVCOPP), within the Tourism and Development research group at the University of Aveiro, and a collaborative researcher at TECHN&ART – Centre of Technology, Restoration and Art Enhancement, Polytechnic University of Tomar. His primary research interests include creative and cultural tourism, sociology of tourism, sustainability, tourism events, tourism planning, co-creation processes, and tourism consumption. Published author, currently, he serves as an Invited Adjunct Professor at the Portalegre Polytechnic University.
Email: rui.carvalho@ipportalegre.pt
João Estevão
João Vaz Estêvão holds a PhD in Tourism from the University of Aveiro, Portugal, focusing on the adoption of Information Technologies by tourism destinations to enhance internal coordination among stakeholders. He is a full researcher at CARE – Research Centre on Health and Social Sciences, Portalegre Polytechnic University (PPU). His primary research interests include smart tourism and the use of IT by tourism destinations suffering from market failures. He has over twenty years’ experience as a researcher and lecturer in the field of tourism studies, mainly at institutions located in low-density peripheral areas. In this context, he has participated in tourism training projects for rural communities. Currently, he serves as an Adjunct Professor at PPU, where he coordinates the Master’s degree in Tourism and Digital Communication, as well as the Postgraduate program in Wine Tourism.
Email: joao.estevao@ipportalegre.pt
Eva Milheiro
Eva Milheiro is an Adjunct Professor at the Polytechnic University of Portalegre. She has served as Director of the Bachelor’s Degree in Tourism and the Postgraduate Degree in Wine Tourism, as well as Coordinator of the Department of Social Sciences, Territory, and Development. She is currently the President of the Pedagogical Council at the School of Education and Social Sciences and the Coordinator of the Postgraduate Degree in Olive Tourism. She has a degree in Tourism Management and Planning and a Master’s in Information Management, and is currently completing her doctoral thesis. She collaborates with three research centers. She has over twenty-five years of experience as a researcher in tourism studies, has published several books, chapters, and articles in national and international scientific journals, and has given several presentations at national and international meetings. She has also been involved in national and international research projects on tourism and the development of low-density peripheral areas.
Email: eva@ipportalegre.pt
Sérgio Correia
Prof. Sérgio D. Correia received his Diploma in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Coimbra, Portugal, in 2000, his Master’s Degree in Industrial Control and Maintenance Systems from Beira Interior University, Covilhã, Portugal, in 2010, and his Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Coimbra, Portugal, in 2020. He is a Professor at the Portalegre Polytechnic University, Portugal, where he is the head of the Laboratory for Electronics and Instrumentation (LEI). He is a Researcher at NOVA School of Science and Technology, Center of Technology and Systems (UNINOVA-CTS), and VALORIZA – Research Center for Endogenous Resource Valorization, Portalegre Polytechnic University, Portalegre, Portugal. His current research interests are Embedded Artificial Intelligence, Soft Computing, Embedded Systems, and Computer Architecture, on which he serves as an editor for several scientific journals and as a collaborator at several International Conferences.
Email: scorreia@ipportalegre.pt
University of Maribor, Maribor, Eslovénia
Maja Pušnik is an Assistant Professor and researcher at the Institute of Informatics, University of Maribor, with nearly 20 years of experience in research and higher education teaching across multiple study programs at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (UM FERI).
Her teaching focuses on business process optimisation and strategic planning, with a strong emphasis on experience-driven approaches such as Total Experience (TX), encompassing User Experience (UX), Customer Experience (CX), Multi-Experience (MX), and Employee Experience (EX). These topics promote the design of inclusive, efficient, and user-centred digital and organisational solutions, highly relevant to tourism, hospitality, and service-oriented environments.
Dr. Pušnik has participated in numerous research and industry-collaborative projects, addressing digital transformation, automation, and process innovation in complex organisational settings. Her research interests lie at the intersection of technology, strategy, and human experience, and include hyper-automation, human–computer interaction, digital accessibility, UX design and evaluation, total experience strategy, and information systems acceptance. Her work supports the development of smart, accessible, and sustainable digital services, aligning closely with the evolving needs of the tourism and experience economy.
Research Interests:
Business process optimisation; strategic planning; total experience (TX); user and customer experience (UX/CX); hyper-automation; human–computer interaction; digital accessibility; information systems acceptance; digital service innovation.
Email: maja.pusnik@um.si
Boštjan Šumak is an Associate Professor and researcher at the Institute of Informatics, University of Maribor. He has over 25 years of experience in higher education, combining research excellence with extensive pedagogical practice across multidisciplinary study programs.
His teaching and research focus on user experience (UX), human–computer interaction (HCI), and digital accessibility, with particular relevance to digital services, online platforms, and user-centred system design. He is the principal lecturer of the course User Experience Evaluation in the second-cycle Bologna program Informatics and Technologies of Communication, and also teaches Web Development in the undergraduate Media Communications program.
Dr. Šumak has led and participated in numerous national and international projects aimed at modernising higher education through digital technologies and artificial intelligence, with a strong emphasis on inclusive design, accessibility, and user engagement. He has contributed to the development of specialised digital accessibility training and accessible e-learning platforms, designed to enhance the competencies of diverse stakeholder groups.
Dr. Šumak actively collaborates with academic and industry partners and is a member of programme committees for international conferences. His research interests are highly interdisciplinary and include user experience design and evaluation, digital accessibility, intelligent and adaptive user interfaces, acceptance of information systems, web and IoT technologies, and touchless and immersive interaction technologies—all increasingly relevant for tourism, hospitality, and experience-driven digital services.
Research Interests:
Human–computer interaction; user experience design and evaluation; digital accessibility; intelligent user interfaces; web technologies; IoT; touchless and immersive interaction technologies; technology acceptance in service systems.
Email: bostjan.sumak@um.si
Academy of Humanities and Economics (Lodz), Poland
Tetiana Kazakova
Associate Professor at the Faculty of Management at the Academy of Humanities and Economics in Łódź, Poland, and Dean of the Faculty of Tourism and Recreation. Prof. Tetiana Kazakova’s teaching spans management and marketing, including Fundamentals of Enterprise Science, Fundamentals of Organization and Management, Design Models and Organization Management, Basics of Marketing, Content Marketing, Tourism Management, and Advertising in Tourism. Prof. Tetiana Kazakova’s research focuses on marketing as a driver of business strategy, brand management concepts and techniques, digital marketing strategies in contemporary organizations, and the role of ethics and sustainability in marketing. Prof. Tetiana Kazakova is also interested in applying psychology to business decision-making and consumer behavior.
Email: erasmus@ahe.lodz.pl