Sustainable Society PhD Grant 2020 for Eko Rahmadian

PhD candidate Eko Rahmadian received a Sustainable Society PhD Grant 2020 for his research “The Use of Big Data on Sustainable Tourism”. Rahmadian won the ‘Intercontintal Grant’, worth 2500 euro, which is offered by the Institute of Sustainable Society for University of Groningen PhD candidates.

During his research, Rahmadian explores and analyzes the utilization of big data (Mobile Positioning Data and Satellite Imagery) to improve the method of Measuring Sustainable Tourism (MST) Framework in Indonesia, which currently uses traditional surveys for data collection. The use of big data will provide valuable insights that improve efficiency of data sets, and enhance data collection as well as data analysis. Hopefully, this data-driven policy making process will help the stakeholders in Indonesia to accelerate the implementation of sustainable tourism, and assist in achieving SDGs. Moreover, considering the pandemic, big data and artificial intelligence would be considered as sufficient alternatives as it is not restrained by physical contact which limits other widely used methods such as door-to-door interviews.

The grant will help Rahmadian to achieve the goals of his research as he will use it for data collection in Indonesia, due to large data volume and privacy, as well as communication with the line ministries and stakeholders as a part of a sustainable tourism campaign programme. The grant will also be used to promote research benefits and findings through international conferences later. Rahmadian: "I would like to thank my supervisors, Prof Dr. Andrej Zwitter and Dr. Daniel Feitosa for all support on my research.”