Diane Dodd PhD
President – International Institute of Gastronomy, Culture, Arts and Tourism (IGCAT)
Founder and Executive Director – World Region of Gastronomy Award and Platform
Diane Dodd PhD is President of IGCAT (International Institute of Gastronomy, Culture, Arts and Tourism) and founder of the World Region of Gastronomy Award that aims to support regional development by highlighting distinctive food, crafts and cultures, educating for better health, supporting balanced and sustainable tourism as well as stimulating creative and gastronomic innovation. Together with experts from the growing Platform of awarded regions she has pioneered the European Young Chef Award, the Food Film Menu, the World Food Gift Challenge and the Top Websites for Foodie Travelers list.
She is also Regional Adviser for the global network IFACCA (International Federation of Arts Councils and Cultural Agencies). She is a visiting lecturer for the MA course in Cultural Institutions and Policies for the International University of Catalonia and Events and Destination management course for EUHTSTPol. She is an independent evaluator for the Cultural Routes programme of the Council of Europe and editor of a number of Cultural Policy and Cultural Management publications for the European Cultural Foundation (ECF). She provided expert advice to Trencin 2026, Plovdiv 2019 and Valletta 2018 in the preparation for their respective bids to be European Capital of Culture.
Diane has worked in the cultural policy and management field for over 20 years and maintains relations with a number of important Global and European Institutions including UNWTO, UNESCO, European Commission, OEI, Commonwealth, Asia-Europe Foundation and many others. Earlier in her career she founded ConnectCP – an international online database of experts on cultural policy, planning and research which gave international networking opportunities to more than 1,200 experts from 128 countries and she co-authored the book entitled ‘a Cultural Component as an integral part of the EU’s Foreign Policy?’ – which looks at foreign cultural policies and the state of international cultural co-operation in EU member states and which led to this subject being addressed by Foreign Institutes at the Hague in 2007.
She obtained her PhD from the University of Girona in 2010 with a thesis that considered the role of service learning for culture in regional and local development.
14 February 2010
