Dr Sebastian Filep, PhD has been at Bond Business School, Bond University since 2 September 2024 and holds the position of Associate Professor. Prior to joining Bond University, Sebastian was an academic at the School of Hotel and Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (2020-2024) and the Department of Tourism, University of Otago, New Zealand where he worked for eight years (2012-2020). His major leadership role at that university included serving as Associate Dean International for Otago Business School. Prior to 2012, he worked as a Research Fellow at Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia and as Researcher and Lecturer at MODUL University Vienna, Austria.

Sebastian Filep has been developing a humanist platform of research focusing on investigations of well-being, happiness and flourishing in tourism, primarily drawing from the field of positive psychology. Sebastian has worked closely with the health and wellness tourism sector in Australia and with national tourism government ministries in the Asia-Pacific region. Dr Filep has published 3 major books in tourism, and over 100 scholarly articles, book chapters and research reports. He is an Associate Editor of journal Leisure Sciences and is on editorial boards of multiple tourism, leisure and hospitality journals.