Research Participation Information

About this research

destinationready.ai is the applied practice output of a doctoral research project at the University of Gloucestershire, School of Business, Computing and Social Sciences. The study is titled AI Behavioural Targeting and Stakeholder Engagement in Northern Finland Rural Tourism Destinations. It looks at how destination organisations, tourism businesses, and policymakers engage with artificial intelligence, and what readiness for responsible AI use looks like in practice.

The research combines two strands. A qualitative strand involves semi-structured interviews with a small number of DMO managers, tourism entrepreneurs, and policymakers. A quantitative strand draws on survey responses from visitors and other stakeholders. The applied output of this research is the AI Readiness and Ethical Targeting Toolkit, known as AIRETT. AIRETT is an academic methodology built around three dimensions: Governance Readiness, Data Readiness, and Operational Integration. destinationready.ai is the public platform built on this methodology. The platform presents a six-dimension diagnostic instrument, derived from AIRETT, so that practitioners without a research background can use it directly. AIRETT and destinationready.ai are related but not the same thing, and this page keeps that distinction where it matters.

Who is conducting this research

The researcher is Y.T. Anderson (student number 4544746), a PhD candidate at the University of Gloucestershire. The study is supervised by Professor Bob Ryan (first supervisor) and Dr Hong Shi (second supervisor). The research follows a Project Approval Form approved by both supervisors on 23 January 2026, and by the PGR Lead on 25 January 2026. This Project Approval Form is the operative ethics approval instrument for this study. It confirms that the research carries minimal risk, that no vulnerable participants are involved, and that a mandatory referral to the University's Research Ethics Committee was not required. It also confirms that the research must uphold participant anonymity, voluntary consent, and GDPR compliance throughout.

The researcher's dual role

Y.T. Anderson holds three roles at the same time. He is the doctoral researcher conducting this study. He is also the founder and CEO of the organisation that operates destinationready.ai. He is additionally the practitioner-CEO of Visit Northern Finland Oy, a destination organisation in Northern Finland. This dual role is disclosed here so that you can weigh it when deciding whether to participate. The researcher's practice as a platform operator and destination professional directly informs the research, and the research in turn informs how the platform is built.

What participation involves

There are three separate levels of consent, and you may agree to any, all, or none of them. Agreeing to one does not commit you to any other.

The first level covers the use of your anonymised assessment responses and how you use the platform, for research outputs including the doctoral thesis and any academic papers that follow from it. The second level covers being contacted about further, optional research activities, such as a semi-structured interview or a short survey. If you agree to this level, it means you may be approached in future. It does not commit you to taking part in any specific activity: each invitation carries its own consent request, and you can decline any individual invitation without affecting your standing on the platform. The third level covers the use of anonymised, aggregated findings, for example patterns seen across several organisations, in conference talks, peer-reviewed papers, trade press articles, and the thesis itself. At this level, no individual organisation or respondent is identifiable.

Interviews, where they take place, are conducted separately from the platform itself and follow their own consent process at the time of invitation.

What data is collected and how it is protected

The research draws on anonymised AIRETT assessment responses submitted through the platform, optional contact details from those who agree to the second consent level, records from any interviews conducted under their own separate consent process, and aggregated observations about readiness patterns across participating organisations. This last category is always handled at a level that prevents any individual respondent or organisation being identified. The researcher also keeps a reflective research journal documenting his own practice decisions as platform operator. Entries in this journal about the researcher's own actions do not require participant consent, because they concern his own professional practice rather than participant data.

Data used for research is anonymised before analysis. Anonymised research data collected through this platform is stored on the researcher's University of Gloucestershire OneDrive account, provided and secured by the University under its institutional information security controls. Identifiable data is stored separately from anonymised data and access is restricted to the named researcher. Anonymised research data is retained for three years following formal approval of the doctoral thesis by the University of Gloucestershire, after which the data is deleted or transferred to an approved long-term research data store in accordance with University policy. Where anonymised data has been integrated into published academic outputs, it may be retained beyond that period as a matter of research integrity. Personal identifiers collected for research contact purposes are deleted within thirty days of a withdrawal request or on completion of the doctoral study, whichever is earlier. Access to identifiable data, where it exists, for example contact details for follow-up invitations, is limited to the researcher and is kept separately from anonymised research data.

Your right to withdraw

You may withdraw any of the three consents at any time through your account settings, with no need to give a reason and with no effect on your access to the platform. Withdrawing consent stops any further use of your data in new research outputs from that point forward. Where your anonymised data has already been incorporated into a published paper, conference presentation, or the doctoral thesis, it may not be possible to remove it retrospectively, because published academic work cannot generally be altered once it is in the public record. Where this applies to you, the researcher will remove your data from any active, unpublished analysis as soon as reasonably possible after you withdraw. If you have not yet registered for a member account, you can withdraw by emailing info@globaldmoservices.com; members can use the consent withdrawal page.

The platform's current status

destinationready.ai is currently a free, open pilot. There is no active subscription charge at this time. Should the platform move to a paid subscription model in future, this would not change the research consents you have already given, and you would be able to review and adjust your consent choices at that time.

Questions

If you have questions about the research itself, you can contact the researcher, Y.T. Anderson, or his supervisory team, Professor Bob Ryan and Dr Hong Shi, at the University of Gloucestershire, via info@globaldmoservices.com.