Martin Robertson came to Victoria University as a lecturer in 2008. He was program leader for the Bachelor of Business, Event Management (2008-10) and Director of the Bachelor of Business (Honours) program (2011-14). He is now an Adjunct Associate Professor, and contributes to the ongoing success of Victoria University Business School. In particular, he contributes to the area of Festival Management and Business Event Management as they relate to Sustainable Industries, Liveable Cities and the Visitor Economy. He is also Associate Professor at The Business School, Edinburgh Napier University, UK. He has PhD supervision experience at both universities.

Before entering academia Martin was employed, respectively, in the travel industry (domestic and overseas), in tourism development (regional), in conference management and as a researcher.

He has a number of advisory, consultancy, Chamber of Commerce and (academic and industry) publication outputs in the related fields of tourism, sport events and festival management and impacts. He has edited or co-edited six books and co-edited six special-issues of respected peer-reviewed journals. He has been an external examiner and external advisor for three university programs.

Portfolios

Areas of expertise

  • Event creation and design
  • Event/festival and destination image/ brand evaluation
  • Event/festival and impact evaluation
  • Leadership and sustainable development (events and destination)

Contact details

[email protected]

Recent publications

Journal articles

Robertson, M. Hutton, A., Brown, S. (2018) Event Design in Outdoor Music Festival Audience Behaviour (a critical transformative research note) Event Management 22 (6), 1073-1081.

Robertson, M., Ong, F., Lockstone-Binney, L., & Ali-Knight, J. (2018) Critical Event Studies – Issues and Perspectives Event Management 22 (6), 865-874.

Newland, B. & Robertson, M. (2018) An exploration of tourists’ perception of a rural mountain bike event Journal of Applied Sports Management 10 (1), 13-22.

Robertson, M., Yeoman, I., Smith, K. & McMahon-Beattie, U. (2015) Technology, Society and Visioning the Future of Music Festivals Event Management 19 (4), 567-587.

Robertson, M. & Yeoman, I. (2014) Signals and Signposts of the future: Literary Festival Consumption in 2050. Tourism Recreation Research 39 (3), 65-74.

Robertson, M., Newland, B. & Darby, P. (2014) An exploration of a niche sport event’s role in visitors’ perception of a rural destination: the case of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup. International Journal of Sport Management 15 (2), 193-218.

Lockstone-Binney, L., Whitelaw, P., Robertson, M., Junek, O. & Michael, I. (2014) The motives for ambassadors bidding for international association meetings and events. Event Management – an international journal, 18 (1), 65-74.

Book editor/co-editor

Robertson, M., Brown, S., Ali-Knight, J. & Jackson, C. (Eds) (forthcoming) The Routledge Handbook of Event Design. Routledge.

Yeoman, I., Robertson, M., Smith, K., Backer, E. & McMahon-Beattie U. (Eds) (2014) The Future of Events and Festivals, Routledge Advanced Series on Events Research, Routledge: Oxon.

Ali-Knight, J., Robertson, M., Ladkin, A. & Fyall, A. (Eds) (2009) International Perspectives of Festivals and Events in Advances in Tourism Research Series, Elsevier Publications. ISBN: 978-0-08-045100-8.

Robertson, M. & Frew, E. (Eds) (2008) Events and Festivals: Current trends and issues Routledge: Oxon. ISBN: 978-0-0415044918-2.

Robertson, M. (Ed) (2006) Sporting Events and Event Tourism: impacts, plans and opportunities LSA publication: Eastbourne. ISBN: 1-905369-02-6.

Book chapters

Robertson, M. & Brown, S. (2014) ‘Leadership and visionary futures: future proofing festivals” in I. Yeoman, M. Robertson, K. Smith, E. Backer & U. McMahon-Beattie (eds) The Future of Events and Festivals, Routledge Advanced Series on Events Research, Routledge: Oxon. ISBN: 978-0-415-82462-0.

Robertson, M. & Lees, G. (2014) ‘Escaping in the city, retailvents in socio-spatially management futures’ in I. Yeoman, M. Robertson, K. Smith, E. Backer & U. McMahon-Beattie (eds) Ibid.

Yeoman, I. & Robertson, M. & Wheatley, C. (2014) ‘Cognitive map(s) of Event and Festival Futures’ in I. Yeoman, M. Robertson, K. Smith, E. Backer & U. McMahon-Beattie (Eds) Ibid.

Yeoman, I., Robertson, M. & Smith, K. (2012) A futurist’s view on the future of events in S. Page & J. Connell (eds) The Handbook of Events, Routledge, Chp 32, pp507-525. ISBN: 978-0-415-58334-3.

Robertson, M. & Wardrop, K. (2012) Festivals and events, government and spatial governance in S. Page & J. Connell (eis) The Handbook of Events, Routledge, Chp31, pp489-506. ISBN: 978-0-415-58334-3.

Case studies or special editorial

Expert Interview, ‘Research and Event Management’ in Aicher, T., Paule-Kobam A. and B. Newland (2015) Sport Facility and Event Management, Jones & Barlett Learning: USA, p270-271. ISBN 978-14-4969846-1.

Opinion on the ‘Trends and Future of Events’ in Getz, D (2012) Event Studies: theory, research and policy for planned events Second edition, Routledge Event Management Series, Routledge: Oxon, P32-34. ISBN 978-08-096953-4.

Refereed conference proceedings

Lees, G., Robertson, M. & Morrison, A. (2014) ‘Duplication of purchase law in sport event markets: New Zealand case study’ ANZMAC 2014, Griffith University, Brisbane.

Robertson, M. (2014) Doing the right thing? Festival leadership and sustainability: the case of literary events Global Events Congress 1V, (July, 2014) Flinders University, Adelaide.

Robertson, M. (2012) ‘Festivals, governance and sustainability: the Director at the research crossroad’ International Conference on Tourism and Events: Opportunities, Impacts and Change, The University of Ulster, Belfast, pp 295-303. ISBN: 978-1-85923-252-1.

Yeoman, I., Robertson, M., McMahon-Beattie, U. & Musarurwam, N. (2012) ‘The Future of Music Festivals: Play, Technology and Glastonbury 2050’International Conference on Tourism and Events: Opportunities, Impacts and Change, The University of Ulster, Belfast, pp347-354. ISBN: 978-1-85923-252-1.

Robertson, M., Rogers, P. & Leask, A. (2008) ‘Place, values, process and benefits: accounting the social and culture future of festivals’ Proceedings of EUTO Conference 2008 - Attractions and events as catalysts for regenerations and social change, The University of Nottingham, UK. pp437-469. ISSN: 1471 – 1427.

View Martin's publications in Victoria University's Institutional Repository.

Teaching responsibilities

Postgraduate research students & fellows

Completions at VU: 1 PhD (associate supervisor); 1 Master Minor project (principal supervisor); 1 Masters by Research (conversion to PhD)

1 Honour thesis (principal supervisor) and 1 MBA minor project (principal supervisor)

Research grants

2013/4 (Team Member) “Developing a standard instrument to assess event outcomes from the Ambassador perspective” (Funded by International Congress and Convention Association - $7,425 + all costs for pilot test in Shanghia, China and for presentation in Antalya, Turkey)

2012 (Team member) “Motives of Ambassadors in bidding for international association meetings and event” (Funded by International Congress and Convention Association $3,000 + costs of presenting results at the 51st ICCA Congress in Puerto Rico)

2007 – 2008 (Leader) – “Developing a Socio & Cultural Evaluation Tool for Festival and Events”(Internal grant, Edinburgh Napier University – approx $44,000)

2006 (Leader) Building a model for co-operative rural destination branding: Niche Sporting Events in the rural environment (Case study: UCI World Mountain Bike Championship) (Internal grant, Edinburgh Napier University – approx $4000)

2005 – 2006 (Team member) Evaluating and quantifying opportunities for business support for art festivals: Testing hypothesis & the creation of an arts festival sponsorship attribute matrix (Faculty award, Edinburgh Napier University – approx $4000)

Professional memberships

  • Fellow, Higher Education Academy
  • Associate Member, Council for Australian University Tourism and Hospitality Education (CAUTHE)
  • Member, CAUTHE Event Studies Special Interest Group
  • Research Associate, Centre for Tourism and Services Research (CTSR), Victoria University
  • Research Associate, Institute for Sport, Exercise and Active Living (ISEAL), Victoria University
  • Advisory Committee Member (2009-10), Arts and Cultural matters to City of Maribyrnong Council
  • Organising Committee Member (2008-2011), Yarraville Arts Festival, Yarraville
  • Founding Committee Member, Association of Event Management Education (UK)