Rate My Professor Karun Rawat

Dr. Karun Rawat is a researcher formerly affiliated with the Department of Tourism within the Otago Business School at the University of Otago. He completed his Doctor of Philosophy in Tourism at the University of Otago between March 2017 and September 2020, with his PhD awarded in March 2021. His doctoral thesis, titled 'The silent Choreographers of Mount Everest: An ethnography study about Sherpa as Mountain Tour Guide,' was supervised by Professor Neil Carr. Prior to his PhD, Rawat worked as a Research Assistant at Taylor's University School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from 2013 to 2015. Currently, he serves as Tautiaki-Kaiāwhina and Assistant Warden in Campus and Collegiate Life Services at the University of Otago, based in Dunedin, supporting residential colleges such as Caroline Freeman College and Selwyn College.

Rawat's research specializations encompass mountain tourism, tour guiding, high-altitude mountaineering guiding, extreme sports, high altitude medicine, sociology of emotions, emotional psychology, mountain guides, history of hunting, and introduced species. His scholarship addresses underrepresented perspectives in tourism research, including the roles of Sherpa guides on Mount Everest, masculinities in researcher-respondent dynamics, and resilience among tour guides during the COVID-19 pandemic. Notable publications include the chapter 'The Impact of Masculinities in the Researcher–Respondent Relationship: A Socio-Historical Perspective' and contributions to Asian Genders in Tourism (2017); 'Himalayan Nature-Based Tourism: Challenges for Tourism and Protected Areas' (2022); 'Indo-Himalayan Protected Areas: Peak-Hunters, Pilgrims and Mountain Tourism' (2021); a book review of 'Reinventing the Local in Tourism' in Tourism Geographies (2018); 'Rural Areas of ASEAN and Tourism Services, a Field for Innovative Solutions' (2016); and 'Innovative Practices in Education to Empower Rural Communities' (2015). He has presented at international conferences, including on tour guides' voices in tourism research, and participated in events like the Pathways conference. Rawat received the Otago Doctoral Postgraduate Publishing Bursary, ANZALS Research Student COVID-19 Grants, and was a finalist in the International Matriki Three Minutes Thesis Competition and the University of Otago 3MT.