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New university scholarship to address LGBT issues in tourism & events sector

Posted: 21st September 2016

qmu-student-gavin-baxter

Queen Margaret University (QMU), Edinburgh, has launched a new scholarship geared towards lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) studies in the tourism and events industry.

With its specialisms in tourism and events, Queen Margaret University (QMU) has teamed-up with US-based TravelAdvocates to offer the scholarship to up to two students a year over the next three years.

The TravelAdvocates LGBT Studies Travel and Research Scholarship will help selected QMU students carry out their own independent research into the current LGBT issues affecting the tourism and events sector.

QMU’s Professor Joe Goldblatt, said: “We’re extremely grateful for the generous support that TravelAdvocates is providing our students. This is the first time in the 140 year history of QMU that a research scholarship in this important area of study has been established.

“This generous and pioneering support is initially committed for up to three years and will provide much needed financial support and other resources for current and future generations of QMU students.”

TravelAdvocates is a global hotel site selection company founded in 2005 by Robert Miller in Hoboken, New Jersey. The company’s team has more than 75 years of combined experience providing personalised hotel site selection and booking thousands of hotel room nights for groups each year. They are a trusted advocate for their clients, who come from the corporate, government, association, tour and travel, athletic and social markets.

Robert Miller, CMP, Esq, President of TravelAdvocates, said: “As an openly gay member of the global tourism industry, I think it is important to explore and identify the specific needs and interests of the LGBT segment as it relates to travel and events. It is a unique market that continues to grow, and TravelAdvocates is proud to support research in this important field.”

Any undergraduate or postgraduate student at QMU can apply for the scholarship. A call for applications will be announced in September 2016 and the award will be made in November 2016. A committee chaired by the Queen Margaret Students’ Union President with members from the teaching staff and other students will select the recipient(s).

Commenting on the new scholarship, Heidi Vistisen, President of the Queen Margaret Students’ Union, said “I’m incredibly pleased and excited to see such a fantastic scholarship made available to QMU students, especially when we still in 2016 see discrimination against LGBT people to a very high extent.

“I’m honored to be chairing the selection committee and I know that students at QMU will use this opportunity to influence the community and society they live and study in.”

For more information on the Travel Advocates LGBT Studies Travel and Research Scholarship, contact the Queen Margaret Students’ Union President, E: studentpresident@qmu.ac.uk; T: 0131 474 0000.

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