BEST Education Network
BEST Education Network (BEST-EN), headquartered at James Cook University, Australia is an international, inclusive and collaborative network, focusing on the creation and dissemination of knowledge to support education and practice in the field of sustainable tourism. History. The BEST Education Network emerged from a broader initiative known as Business Enterprises for Sustainable Travel, which was founded in 1998. The primary objective of BEST was to develop and disseminate knowledge in the field of sustainable tourism. In 2003 BEST went through organisational changes and the group overseeing the educational and curriculum aspects of the organisation became independent  and renamed itself the BEST Education Network. Structure. The BEST Education Network is coordinated by an international Executive Committee of academics with expertise in sustainable tourism. The committee is currently chaired by Dr. Gianna Moscardo. Think Tanks. BEST-EN holds annual Think Tanks at various universities around the world, during which research is presented, sustainable tourism topics are discussed, and resources for teaching and practice in sustainable tourism are developed. The BEST Think Tanks draw together educators, researchers, consultants and practitioners from the tourism industry. Their knowledge and experience are incorporated into the design of various resources on sustainable tourism  including research agendas, identification of issues, current research and implications for practice. The Think Tanks consist of research presentations, keynote speakers, a research agenda, and curriculum development sessions. Each year the Think Tank has a particular theme and seeks to provide vision and cutting-edge insight to the topic at hand. Past themes have included: The Think Tanks are open to academics, educators, researchers, government officials, industry experts, sustainability experts, environmental, economic, community, and cultural experts in the tourism field. Each Think Tank provides an opportunity for participants to highlight and explore topics that are of significance to the practice  of tourism and/or sustainability. Interested delegates are invited to participate in workshops to identify 'hot topics' in sustainable tourism, outlining the specific problems linked to these topics, exploring the types of approaches that can be taken to develop 'cutting edge' research and solutions in these areas, and discussion of implications for stakeholder decision making and policy makers.