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Lwazi Apleni

  • Current Role: Lecturer, Department of Recreation & Tourism, University of Zululand
  • Location: KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
  • Origin: South Africa
  • Scholarship: Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC)
  • Education: 2013-2015 | Masters in Management Sciences | University of Science & Technology Beijing
  • Interests: Sustainable Tourism, Local Economic Development, Carbon Tax, Rural Tourism, Responsible Touris
  • Skills & Competencies: Academic Research & Publishing (17 manuscripts, 59 citations), Teaching & Learning (undergraduate and postgraduate), Student Co-supervision (Masters level), Conference Presentations (3 local, 8 international), Peer Review (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, IGI Global)

I pride myself with years of working experience. In the past 5 and half years, I have committed and dedicated my services in Academia. I cut my teeth at Walter Sisulu University (WSU) where I worked as a Lecturer on contract basis for a period of 3 and half years. Furthermore, I have worked for other institutions such as South African Airways, Coega Development Corporation and Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA).

At present, I am rendering my services as a Lecturer at the University of Zululand (UniZulu)'s Department of Recreation & Tourism. I am responsible for Teaching and Learning at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. My other duties include Research, University Service and Community Engagement.

I am currently reading my PhD at the University of Johannesburg, diagnosing "Sustainable Local Economic Development through tourism in selected Eastern Cape District Municipalities". My PhD journey is an initiative of the SA-UK University Staff Development Programme Phase 2.

As someone currently occupying the academic territory, I am very pro-active in matters pertaining to research. In November 2021, I was crowned as an Emerging Researcher of the Year at the Annual UniZulu Vice-Chancellor Academic Excellence Awards. From 2013 to date, I have contributed 17 manuscripts on approved scholarly platforms (1 policy brief, 11 journal articles and 5 book chapter articles). My research publications feature on highly reputable platforms such as IGI Global, Cambridge, Emerald, Geojournal of Tourism and Geosites, and African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism & Leisure. These are backed up by 3 local conferences and 8 international conferences. My research work has been cited 59 times.

I serve as a Review Panel and Advisory Board member for Cambridge Scholars Publishing and IGI Global respectively, and am a member of UniZulu's Faculty of Arts Research Committee (FAREC) and the Association for Tourism and Leisure Education and Research (ATLAS) since September 2019.