Profile

After obtaining his PhD in Geography from the London School of Economics, Allan Williams held academic posts at the LSE, Durham University and the University of Exeter in the UK. At Exeter, he was appointed to a full chair as Professor of Human Geography and European Studies, and subsequently was appointed Professor of Globalization and European Integration at London Metropolitan University before taking up the post of Professor of Tourism and Mobility Studies at the University of Surrey.

His research has focussed on the relationships between human mobility and development, especially on the impacts of labour migration, tourism, retirement migration and student migration. In terms of development, he is particularly  interested in innovation, entrepreneurship and productivity as well as the bi-causal relationships between risk/uncertainty and mobility.

In addition to his fellowship of the Academy of Science of Lisbon, he is also a fellow of the Academy of Science (UK) and of the International Academy for the Study of Tourism. In the UK, he has been Chair of the annual conference of the Royal Geographical Society with the IBG, and a member of several committees of the national social science council, the Economic and Social Research Council. He was a founding editor of two journals, European Urban and Regional Studies and Tourism Geographies.  In 2022, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Lisbon, where he has been a long-term collaborator with the Centro de Estudos Geográficos.