MSc International Events Management

The Research Methods module aims to help students to develop an understanding of the research process and prepare students to undertake research leading to successful completion of their dissertation. It enables students to conduct research independently and also provides them with the knowledge, skills and understanding required to develop their proposal for their dissertation. Students are required to identify an area of research and develop research questions to be answered or hypotheses to be tested in the industry context relevant to their course of study. The module covers ideas, techniques, and methods relevant to different stages of the research process, stressing the interdependence of each stage in conducting effective, coherent and rigorous research. The module also introduces students to the ethical and responsible use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) to support aspects of the research process in a transparent and academically appropriate manner.

Services industries are a driving force of value creation, and nowadays nearly every product incorporates a service component; as such, service businesses are increasingly dominant forces in the global economy. Services are intangible, produced and consumed simultaneously, cannot be stored, and are difficult to standardise, creating distinctive managerial and marketing challenges. This module focuses on services marketing and is designed to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the challenges service organisations face due to service characteristics, consumer behaviour, and a dynamic and increasingly complex global environment. It introduces the core principles of services marketing and consumer behaviour within the context of service characteristics, while integrating examples from the different fields of study represented on the programme, such as events, tourism and hospitality. Students will apply relevant theories and models to analyse and interpret real-world examples from their respective sectors, learning how to use established frameworks from the academic literature to critically evaluate marketing practices and to develop practical, evidence-based recommendations that can be applied in professional contexts beyond the module. In doing so, students engage with a broad range of marketing topics, enabling them to appreciate both the complexity of services marketing and the strategic tools available to manage and enhance the service experience.

The events industry includes conferences, trade fairs, exhibitions music and cultural festivals which offer a range of rewarding careers. They also involve a wide range of stakeholders and can have extensive impacts and legacies on destinations and communities in which they take place. This module will examine how strategic planning applies in a range of event contexts and how to evaluate some of the direct, indirect and induced benefits of staging events at a local, regional, national and international level. Students will develop strategic planning skills through individual and collaborative group work using digital and face to face tools and techniques.

The purpose of this module is to widen the students' appreciation of the diverse and dynamic event industry, to provide a framework of knowledge and understanding concerning the key dimensions in the industry nationally and internationally. This module provides a fuller picture of the diversity within the industry, critically examines the similarities and differences among the various dimensions, and equips students to critically understand the specific features, contexts, considerations and challenges in the industry. Furthermore, this module aims to develop and update students' knowledge and understanding of the significant issues, challenges and opportunities faced in a complex and rapidly changing world, as well as the impact it makes nationally and internationally. This module will critically explore a wide variety of contemporary issues in the event industry, such as the political, economic, socio-cultural and environmental dimensions of a range of events within different global contexts, which may be the focus of academics, prominent news and industry issues or issues raised by students as a result of their experience and/or readings.

Managers in the service industry need to be able to measure and analyse the financial, social and environmental performance of the business to underpin decisions in the management and investment setting. In this module, students will learn how to critically evaluate financial information and data available in annual reports, financial analysts’ reports and other relevant sources. Using the principles and practices of financial analysis offered in this module, professionals in the service industry will be able to continuously optimise their firm's performance and enhance the profitability of investment decisions.

Conceiving, planning, staging, evaluating and reflecting on the delivery of events is a critical part of studying events. This module covers core elements of how to do this efficiently, effectively and sustainably. Event operations provide an increasing source of revenue and profits for a wide range of businesses. This rising level of importance to the bottom line applies increasing pressure on organisations to better utilise space, manpower and other expensive resources to achieve stable competitive advantage. As part of this process the demand for managers with specialist skills in event management operations increases. The ability to present sound event feasibility profiles, operational management skills and event evaluation reports using specialist knowledge will bring the required levels of professionalism to the management of these important revenue streams. The major part of this module is devoted towards the planning and marketing of a live or digital event. This task will require the students to work in teams with allocated roles and responsibilities. Students will go through the creative decision making process, the feasibility study process and learn essential knowledge about the practical planning, documentation, organisational and technical considerations for the staging of an event and in doing so gain a real depth of understanding of the stage by stage process of successful event management. Students will undertake marketing activities to promote their events, create income streams, manage cash flows, create risk assessments and deliver all aspects of the planned events from set-up of the event venues (or online platforms) to the final break down and clearing up upon the completion of events. In the post event period following on from the completion of the event, students¿ will report back on the outcomes from their project and then draw up individual reflections on their own learning and their experience of working within an event project team.

This module introduces students to the study of ethics and applies this to tourism, transport, hospitality and events. Within the last decade significant attention has been paid to the issue of ethics and sustainability in these industries. Issues such as: corporate social responsibility, global reporting, ethical consumption, to name but a few, are becoming increasingly central to business practice. This module will offer students the opportunity to reflect upon their own understanding of ethics and corporate responsibility. It will introduce them to a range of theoretical approaches to understanding ethics and ethical responses to business situations, as well as provide the opportunity for in-depth reflection and critique on ‘real life’ scenarios. In so doing, this module adopts the University's curriculum framework, which aims to develop learners with strong Global and Cultural capabilities, Sustainability, Resourcefulness and Resilience while enhancing their Employability and Digital capabilities.

Using examples from around the world this module introduces the foundations of event portfolio planning and development. The module also adopts an experiential learning approach structured around a compulsory three night field trip during which students will visit destinations and meet key stakeholders involved with event planning, marketing and delivery. They will assess whether event portfolio planning is being effectively implemented and make suggestions for improvement where appropriate.Destination marketers and developers recognise that events attract tourists which can bring a number of benefits including: accelerated economic development, image enhancement, social cohesion and community capacity building. The recognition of these benefits has led destinations to add events to their existing event calendars, in some cases with minimal planning and co-ordination. The result being that the promised benefits are not realised in full and in some cases rivalry and conflicts of interest between organisations involved in delivering events have arisen. The event portfolio planning approach seeks to address such issues by fostering collaborative stakeholder networks which produce events that complement each other and deliver economic, social and environmental benefits.

Corporations, governments, entrepreneurs, and various organisations around the world are using data to extract patterns and generate insights to support strategic decision-making and create innovative solutions to business problems. This module will equip you with the fundamental concepts and tools needed to understand the emerging role of visual analytics in service organisations, will show you how to use a leading business intelligence platform -Tableau-, and will inform you how to best communicate your data with industry professionals for making better business decisions. Emphasis will be placed on applications, concepts, visualisation, interpretation, and communication of results, rather than theory and calculations.

This module aims to provide you with a number of service design techniques and models by which current and cutting-edge digital technologies can be designed into existing and new service journeys, therefore delivering service innovation through design and technology to create business value. You will be exposed to research-informed, practice-relevant teaching and a series of innovative design workshops using emerging service science and service logic thinking to help develop innovative digital solutions or improve current ones to address current managerial and sustainability issues.

Sustainability has become a major issue in contemporary service operations, including in the hospitality, tourism, transport, events, and related sectors. However, managers do not necessarily understand the specific aspects of sustainability which their business has an impact upon or is impacted by. Further, managers are not always familiar with the tools of sustainability assessment and have limited comprehension of how a robust sustainability audit can aid in reducing operational costs, improving corporate image, and increasing customer patronage. This module will introduce students into the array of sustainability-related issues that a business in hospitality, tourism, transport, or events may face and explain how these issues can be identified and assessed. The module will provide students with an opportunity to undertake a sustainability audit of a business and reflect upon the challenges of such audit's undertaking.

The dissertation is optional for all MSc programmes and is the final element of the programme, providing an opportunity for a sustained period of independent study and research. It allows students to concentrate on topics that are of particular interest to them and it draws upon a range of different aspects of the taught programme particularly the Research Methods module (MANM386). Students can build upon their knowledge and topics learnt from programme-specific modules studies in semester 1 to develop and define their research idea and questions. It also gives an opportunity for students to work independently with an individual supervisor. There are two forms of dissertations: An academic dissertation. This form of dissertation follows the standard academic pattern of identifying a topic arising from a gap in the literature and developing a methodology to explore this area in-depth. A business or applied dissertation. This form of dissertation starts with an emerging business problem, either provided by an industrial partner or with their co-operation in the process, and seeks to provide a research-based solution to or exploration of the problem. All forms of the dissertation seek to develop the same learning outcomes and follow the same assessment criteria. In some cases, taught modules, in addition to Research Methods, may be pre-requisites of taking a particular form of dissertation so that students are adequately prepared.

Students will have the opportunity to learn about the different approaches that aim to answer the question: how do I plan, assess and implement a new business venture? Business plans are essential not just for the successful implementation of start-up ventures, but also for continued business growth, including strategic competitiveness. A good business plan underpins business success on all levels and becomes a major guideline to sound management practices. All students will find much value in the business principles inherent to the planning process, which will lead to an enhanced commercial understanding. This module's content and outcomes build solidly upon undergraduate business-related courses from level 4, 5 and 6, as well as any accumulated business experience. Proper use of AI- and digital tools, together with technology where appropriate, are encouraged to complement the students' understanding in the business planning process. It doesn't just reiterate much of the theory previously learnt, but also applies it in a create and innovate way to emphasise creative business development, profitability, growth, and sustainability. It holistically addresses preferred business outcomes and brings all its components together. This module is also designed to give students an entrepreneurial- and industry-focused alternative to the traditional academic dissertation.