Dr Irma Booyens
TELEPHONE: 021 466 8000
EMAIL: ibooyens@hsrc.ac.za
Dr Irma Booyens is a senior research manager in the Economic Performance and Development (EPD) unit. She holds an PhD in Geography from the University of Johannesburg (2015), and a master's in Development Studies from the University of the Free State (2008).
Before joining EPD, she held a National Research Foundation (NRF) Scarce Skills Scholarship whilst completing her PhD. Prior to this she was employed by the Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators (CeSTII) at the HSRC in Cape Town. She also worked as a development economist at Urban Econ consultancy in Pretoria before joining the HSRC for the first time in 2008.
Her areas of research interest include: innovation in service industries and tourism; innovation in rural areas; innovation networking; and local and regional economic development.
Dr Booyens' publication record spans the authoring and co-authoring of 14 journal articles and 8 conference presentations. Her most recent work, published in International Journal of Tourism Research, investigated tourism innovation in the Western Cape. This paper draws on empirical evidence regarding the types and nature of innovation by tourism firms, and considers tourism innovation on different spatial scales which include tourism firms and system levels with a focus on networking behaviour.
DST: Innovation Partnership For Rural Development (IPRD)- M&E Framework
The Department of Science and Technology (DST), through its Chief Directorate: Science and Technology for Social Impact, has embarked on an initiative....