Kandappan Balasubramanian, PhD., CHIA
Associate Professor – School of Hospitality, Tourism and Events
Associate Director- Human Capital Development of the Centre for Research and Innovation in Tourism
Faculty of Social Sciences and Leisure Management
Taylor’s University, MALAYSIA

Dr Kandappan Balasubramanian (Dr Kandy) is an Associate Professor from the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Events and Associate Director-Human Capital Development of the Centre for Research and Innovation in Tourism (CRiT), Faculty of Social Sciences and Leisure Management (FSLM), Taylor’s University, Malaysia who has embraced technology as part of his teaching and learning pedagogy and continuously empowers to innovate himself with the latest developments of technology in order to meet the changing needs of today’s learners. He has taken the mandate and made it as personal aspiration on, striving to broaden his ability in technology integration in the classroom.

Dr Kandappan innovation and transformation in teaching and learning during the pandemic is well-recognised by awarding him as one of the “Taylor’s Distinguished e-Learning Educator (DeE) Class of 2021”. He also received the title of ADE (Apple Distinguished Educator)-Class of 2015, a global community of educators on leaders recognised for doing amazing things with Apple technology in and out of the classroom. He also appointed as “Visiting Professor” for the Lyceum of the Philippines University, Manila, University of Santo Tomas, Philippines and BIT Business School, India. Dr Kandappan won the EMAS (Exemplary Meritorious Academic Staff) award for his transformation of training restaurant from traditional to digital.

In 2019, he received the “Best Paper Award” for his research towards the integration of augmented reality into dining space and “Gold Medal” for his teaching innovation in the International University E-Learning Carnival (IUCEL) 2019 in Sarawak, Malaysia. Apart from core discipline, he is very passionate in introducing new innovative pedagogical approaches. He has also presented and published research papers in International and National level conferences. He is also actively publishing his research and innovation in SSCI and SCOPUS-Indexed journals. His recent research projects include service innovation, augmented and virtual reality, artificial intelligence (AI) in the hospitality/restaurant industry and higher education