Dr Ya-Yen Sun - Senior Lecturer, School of Business - Careers

"UQ is an excellent place to work. I definitely see myself staying at UQ and advancing to the next level in my career. Having worked at two different institutions in Taiwan before joining UQ, I’ve really sense a drastic difference in the working environment.

In considering the academic environment, UQ offers great mentorship possibilities to work with senior colleagues across different disciplines. As UQ has a wonderful international reputation, there are so many international collaboration opportunities – I’m currently working with scholars from New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Indonesia."

Why did you join UQ?

What do you do and why is it important?

My research interests are associated with tourism economic and environmental impacts. Everyone loves to travel. We travel to see friends. We travel for business. We travel to satisfy our need to see other places. Prior to COVID, we are seeing around 7 to 8 billion travel trips globally each year. Whilst it’s great for the economy, it also creates a lot of burden for the environment. My research centres on tourism carbon footprint, using economic modelling to document the magnitude of carbon emissions associated with travel.

One of my prior studies (in collaboration with the University of Sydney) found that global tourism contributes about 8% of the total carbon emissions. Moving forward, I’d like to work more closely with the big international agencies – such as the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, who is the leading agency that directs and advises on international tourism policy. I hope to work with them on constructing policies around the sustainability of tourism and events.

How did you find the relocation process?

What advice would you give others thinking of relocating to Brisbane?

I would recommend UQ to all academics and researchers. We offer an excellent academic environment for those wanting to advance to the next level of their career. Besides career development, I would recommend Brisbane to anyone. We have an excellent quality of life, low crime rate, good transportation, and a culturally diverse city with wonderful communities. Personally, I also love the combination of city life and surrounding excellent nature environment.

How have you settled into Brisbane?

Even after nearly 3 years, I still find myself learning new things about Brisbane and the Australian education system every day. Depending on where in the world you are relocating from, there are definitely some differences to take note of – the tax system, superannuation (Australia’s retirement savings plan), and even driving on the other side of the road. However, the people here are so friendly and I’ve appreciated all the suggestions friends and colleagues have given me. I would tell anyone not to hesitate to reach out to others, as everyone has been more than happy to help.