Mrs Chiara Orefice

I am a Senior Lecturer in Events, Tourism and Hospitality Management with over 17 years of of experience in three UK higher education institutions. As part of my role I take part in the delivery of postgraduate and undergraduate courses and research supervision. Over the years, I have been involved in curriculum design, programme management, partnership management (national and international) and student exchanges.

I have an MSc in International Conference Management and a PGCert in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education from Sheffield Hallam University, and a first degree in Statistics with Economics from the University of Padua in Italy.

Before joining academia, I lived in several countries in Europe and Asia working in the private sector first, and then in research and in conference management within international organisations.

Over the years, I designed, developed and led modules at UG and PG level in all areas of events management. My areas of expertise are Event Design and Event Strategy.

I am currently involved in the delivery of modules such as Event Design and Production, International Events, Ethics for Tourism, Events and Hospitality, Research Methods, Global Service Excellence, Creative Destinations.

I also supervise dissertations and mentor students working on client projects, both at UG and PG level.

My research looks at how design thinking can help to create events that contribute to regenerative practices and drive positive change (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9248-1379)

Publications and research outputs:

• Orefice, C. (2024). Events as educational platforms for sustainability in Whitfield, J., Gouthro, M.B. and Moital, M. (2024). The Routledge Handbook of Events and Sustainability. Routledge
• Orefice, C. & Nyarko, N. (2020). Sustainable value creation in event ecosystems: a business models perspective. Journal of Sustainable Tourism. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09669582.2020.1843045
• Orefice, C. (2018). Designing for events – a new perspective on event design. International Journal of Events and Festival Management. Vol. 9(1), pp.20-33. DOI 10.1108/IJEFM-09-2017-0051
• Crowther, P., Orefice, C. and Beard, C. (2018). At work and play: business events as entrepreneurial spaces. International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Vol. 19(2), pp.90-99
• Crowther, P. and Orefice, C. (2014). Cocreative Events - analysis and illustrations. In Richards, G., Marques, L. and Mein, K. (2014) eds. Event Design. Social Perspectives and Practices. Routledge
• Orefice, C. (2014). Setting the event host objectives – a framework for business value creation. In Sharples et al. (2014) eds. Strategic Event Creation. Goodfellows
• Conference Presentations
• Orefice, C. (2024). Panel speaker at Tourism and Events Reimagined: Real-life solutions for responsible consumption and production of spaces. London Festival of Architecture, June 2024
• Orefice, C. (2024). Beyond Event Management. Designing the curriculum of the 21st century. Association of Event Management Educators Forum, Sheffield Hallam University, July 2024
• Orefice, C. (2023). How can business events drive sustainable innovation? Lessons from service design. ATLAS Business Tourism SIG, Amsterdam, November 2023
• Orefice, C. (2023). Can festivals truly contribute to sustainable development? Events as prototyping opportunities for sustainability. Festival Sustainability Symposium, Edinburgh, June 2023
• Orefice, C. (2019). Value cocreation in Event degrees – lessons from Design. AEME Forum, University of Herfordshire, July 2019
• Orefice, C., Smith, A. (2019). Blurring the boundaries: creating synergies between business events and cultural festivals. ATLAS Special Interest Group on Business Events conference. Porvoo, Finland, May 2019
• Orefice, C., Nyarko, N. (2018). Implementing value co-creation in event design: the role of business models. The INC Conference. Buxton, 26-28 June
• Orefice, C. (2017). Strategic Value Creation in Events. University of Westminster. Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment Research Showcase. March 2017
• Orefice, C., Aniunoh, I. (2015). Beyond the Classroom Experience: the use of events for graduate employability. SHU Learning and Teaching Conference. June 2015. Sheffield Hallam University
• Orefice, C. (2014). Mining Event Databases – harnessing existing data to demonstrate the value of business events. AEME Conference. July 2014. Sheffield Hallam University
• Crowther, P. and Orefice, C. (2014). 360° Attendees engagement. ATLAS SIG Events, May 2014, Sheffield Hallam University
• Crowther, P. and Orefice C. (2013). Events as co-creative spaces. ATLAS SIG Events, May 2013, Peniche, Portugal
• Orefice, C. (2013). Excitement and Frustration. An international student experience of planning a local community event in Yorkshire. EAIE Conference, Istanbul, September 2013
• Orefice, C. (2012). The future of the Event Professional. Polish Events Managers Association conference. Warsaw, Poland, March 2012

I have been external examiner at London South Bank University since 2021 and I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

I am used to teach internationally, and I have delivered ad-hoc courses in Event-related subjects in several universities around Europe and in Hong Kong.

I am a reviewer for the International Journal of Events and Festival Management and for the Event Management journal.