Katherine Dashper (PhD) is Professor and Director of Research Degrees in the School of Events, Tourism and Hospitality Management at Leeds Beckett University, UK. Her research interests focus on gender and human-animal interactions in tourism, events, sport and leisure. She has published widely on these topics, including a research monograph Human-Animal Relationships in Equestrian Sport and Leisure (Routledge, 2017) and a co-edited collection Humans, Horses and Events Management (CABI, 2021).
Guðrún Helgadóttir is a professor of tourism at The University of South-Eastern Norway and Hólar University, Iceland. She has led numerous research projects and published in international journals on equestrian tourism, events and tourism sustainability in addition to co-authoring and illustrating a textbook and a handbook of best practice in equestrian tourism. Guðrún has organized a number of conferences and volunteered at various events. She developed a diploma program of study in event management for Hólar University in Iceland. She is an amateur equestrian.
Ingibjörg Sigurðardóttir is an assistant professor and the head of the department of Rural Tourism at Hólar University, Iceland. Her educational and practical background is in management and business administration, tourism, equine science and agriculture. Her recent research focuses on horse events and equestrian tourism. She has published in international and domestic journals and books on tourism, events, horses, and business. She has written and published different kinds of teaching material for university level and practical handbooks for business operators, both individually and with international co-authors. She has led research- and business development projects and participated in organising international seminars and conferences on horses and tourism. She is an accredited young horse trainer within The Icelandic Horse Trainers Association, a horse breeder and an owner of a horse transport business.