Estrella Díaz Sánchez

Dr. Estrella Díaz Sanchez is currently a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Senior Global Fellow at San Diego State University (United States) and a Distinguished Researcher at the University of Castilla-La Mancha (Spain). She is leading the EU Horizon 2020 project "Smart Tourism Challenges: The Effects of Digital Revolution on Consumer Experience and Business Competitiveness" (SMARTOURISM) as Principal Investigator (PI). Previously, she worked as Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of Castilla-La Mancha (Spain) and has carried out pre-and post-doctoral teaching and research stays at Bournemouth University (UK), University of Richmond (United States), University of Florence (Italy), and San Diego State University (Unites States). She is currently accredited as Full Professor in the Social Sciences field.

Her research activity has been focused on four lines of research: (1) Consumer behavior, (2) Commercial distribution and logistics management, (3) Communication and application of new technologies, and (4) Tourism marketing. Beyond the focus on these four lines, she considers that interdisciplinary research is essential for the advancement of science. Regarding research activities, she has 34 indexed publications: 24 papers included in the Journal Citation Reports, JCR (SSCI/SCIE) and the remainder in recognized indexes such as SCImago Journal Rank, SJR (Scopus). The main results of her research have been published in journals indexed in the first and second quartile (first level) within the categories of Marketing and Business Management. These scientific publications are completed with 1 book and 5 book chapters, published by Goodfellow Publishers Limited, ESIC, and the Ramon Areces Foundation. She has been making regular scientific contributions since the beginning of her academic training, but she would like to place particular emphasis on the frequency of publications in the last six years, mainly due to the collaboration with professors of international prestige (Prof. Koutra, Prof. Zhang, Prof. Ko, Prof. Estelami, or Prof. Faraoni) and the relevance of the publishers (Elsevier, Emerald, Sage, Taylor & Francis or Palgrave).

Dr. Díaz has participated in 47 national and international conferences organized by prestigious associations (American Marketing Association, Society for Marketing Advances, Academy Marketing of Science, or Fordham University, among others). She has also participated as a guest speaker in several seminars in foreign universities. Also underpinning the quality of her research activities are 10 awards and honors: Highly Commended Award Winner, granted by Emerald/EFMD Outstanding Doctoral Research Award; Extraordinary Doctoral Award for the Best Doctoral Thesis in the Social Sciences, granted by the University of Castilla-La Mancha; The Best Doctoral Thesis in Marketing, granted by the Spanish Marketing Association; Top downloaded article 2017-2018, granted by Wiley Publishing; Highly Commended Award Winner 2019 Literati, granted by Emerald and; Representative of the Social Sciences field of the Human Resources Strategy for Researchers (RS4R) excellence award, granted to the University of Castilla-La Mancha by the European Commission for Excellence in Human Resources Research in 2019, to cite just a few. Furthermore, Dr. Díaz is a member of the research group "Research and Modelling in Marketing", the International Doctorate School at the University of Castilla-La Mancha, a member of scientific committees and she is a reviewer for 13 indexed journals (JCR).

Within her academic research career, another fundamental element that she has always tried to keep in mind is the relationship between academia, the business world, and society. Dr. Díaz has participated in 17 collaboration and consultancy agreements with various national and international institutions and organizations. The quality of the transfer of her results to the productive sector by means of various reports to companies and organizations should also be highlighted. Currently, she is analyzing the effect of smart technologies in the field of tourism from two perspectives: consumers and organizations. This research is pioneering in the field of Social Sciences, incorporating disciplines that are currently very relevant, such as technology, tourism, SMEs, consumers, and society. This project will be developed for three years at San Diego State University (United States), the European Travel Commission (located in Brussels, Belgium) and the University of Castilla-La Mancha (Spain). Apart from the scientific objectives, the main aim of this project is to raise awareness and create outreaching activities, to communicate and disseminate to different target audiences what the work of a researcher involves and to what extent this work benefits society and the economy.