Dr Brahim El-Habib
Academic and research departments
Surrey Hospitality and Tourism Management, Department of Tourism and Transport.Â鶹ÊÓƵ
Biography
Brahim El-Habib is a Research Fellow at the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at the Â鶹ÊÓƵ (UK), where he currently collaborates with Professors Allan Williams and Isabel Rodriguez on a research project focused on knowledge mobility after entrepreneurial failure in the tourism industry. He is also an Associate Lecturer at the Department of Sociology I at the University of Alicante (Spain), where he teaches various subjects, including Research Methodology, Sociology of International Relations, and other topics related to the Sociology of Education.
After graduating with a degree in Economics from the University of Tangier (Morocco), he migrated to Alicante (Spain), where he pursued a Master's Degree in Tourism Management. He also obtained a Diploma in Advanced Studies (DEA) on Moroccan Migration in Spain and defended his PhD on the topic of school and urban segregation of minorities in Spain. His research interests range from tourism and innovation to migration, interculturality, gender inequality, and social cohesion.
In addition to his academic career, Brahim has been dedicated to developing and leading various projects as an expert in migration for NGOs, public administrations in Spain, and EU projects. He also led a project funded by the to provide support to the British community residing in Spain after Brexit.
ResearchResearch projects
Current Research project: Life after-death: knowledge trajectories after innovation failureFunder: The Leverhulme Trust
Principal Investigator: Dr Isabel RodrÃguez
Co-Investigators: Prof Allan Williams / Dr Brahim El-Habib
Total Requested: £84,818
Start date: 17/07/2023 – End date: 16/10/2024
Summary
Failure is common among innovative new-start enterprises, but firm closure does not necessarily equate to the ‘death of knowledge’. Yet we know surprisingly little about the ‘after-life of ideas’, partly due to an academic and policy focus on ‘winners’. This project investigates the post failure mobility of different forms of knowledge – tacit (personal to individuals) versus codified (manuals, prototypes, patents, copyrights, etc.) – and whether and how that influences subsequent innovation. What types of knowledge survive firm closures, how does it ‘move’, and what factors determine its re-use?
The research focusses on tourism start-ups because they have high failure rates and the fieldwork will be undertaken in Spain so as to build on their previous EU Marie Curie funded investigation of tourism innovation in that country. Three stages of interviewing are involved: with key informants in policy and funding organizations, with ‘failed’ entrepreneurs, and with other key stakeholders such as employees and shareholders.
Research projects
Funder: The Leverhulme Trust
Principal Investigator: Dr Isabel RodrÃguez
Co-Investigators: Prof Allan Williams / Dr Brahim El-Habib
Total Requested: £84,818
Start date: 17/07/2023 – End date: 16/10/2024
Summary
Failure is common among innovative new-start enterprises, but firm closure does not necessarily equate to the ‘death of knowledge’. Yet we know surprisingly little about the ‘after-life of ideas’, partly due to an academic and policy focus on ‘winners’. This project investigates the post failure mobility of different forms of knowledge – tacit (personal to individuals) versus codified (manuals, prototypes, patents, copyrights, etc.) – and whether and how that influences subsequent innovation. What types of knowledge survive firm closures, how does it ‘move’, and what factors determine its re-use?
The research focusses on tourism start-ups because they have high failure rates and the fieldwork will be undertaken in Spain so as to build on their previous EU Marie Curie funded investigation of tourism innovation in that country. Three stages of interviewing are involved: with key informants in policy and funding organizations, with ‘failed’ entrepreneurs, and with other key stakeholders such as employees and shareholders.