Júlia Hanna Bentz

Academic background:

2008 – M.Phil. International Development Sciences, University of Vienna (Austria)

PhD project entitled: “Optimal strategies for marine wildlife tourism in small islands - The role of marine spatial planning”.
The goal of this project is to contribute to the sustainable development of small island economies through developing guidelines that will ensure marine wildlife tourism as a mechanism to conserve nature while supplementing local livelihoods. Specific objectives are to develop a conceptual model of marine wildlife tourism for the Azores that can be integrated in regional planning instruments.

Research interests:

My research interests are related to sustainable development planning in small islands including land use planning as well as marine spatial planning. I’m particularly interested in understanding how ecotourism can balance both sustainable development and biodiversity protection.