Myles Liam Lynch, PhD
UNESCO Chair Vietnam
Research Scientist — Sustainable tourism
College of Arts and Sciences
Senior Lecturer
Biography
Dr. Myles L. Lynch is a Senior Lecturer within the College of Arts and Sciences at VinUniversity. He oversees the VinCore curriculum focused on community service learning and leadership programs. Dr. Lynch is a social scientist and received his Ph.D. and M.S. in Education and Recreation Management from the University of New Hampshire. He received a B.S. in Psychology with minors in Education and Philosophy from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in 2009. Prior to arriving at VinUniversity, Dr. Lynch served as the Head of Research and Development for Point Avenue, a Hanoi based Education Technology Company. In addition, Dr. Lynch is a former Camp Director for the YMCA of Greater Boston where he supervised 50+ staff members. He has also led domestic and international service-based trips to Yellowstone National Park, Zion National Park, and throughout Vietnam.
Dr. Lynch’s passion for informal learning began as a child when he attended outdoor programs near the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Dr. Lynch believes meaningful education should focus on challenging hands-on and project-based experiences. As a social scientist, he primarily focuses on experiential learning under the three main pillars of community engagement, outdoor recreation, and tourism. He employs a wide array of mixed methods research approaches including quantitative and qualitative data analyses procedures. The primary goal of his research is to better understand participation in outdoor recreation, tourism and community experiences. He believes these outcomes are intimately connected to people’s stories, learning, and cultural differences which influence human-nature relationship and behaviors. Another aspect of his scholarship is to develop and inform experiential learning pedagogy which advances understanding of practice and interactions between society, natural resources, practitioners, and communities. He also has experience conducting interviews with different communities using a variety of translated languages (i.e. Vietnamese, English, Hmong).
In his spare time, he enjoys basketball, volleyball, trekking, pickleball (more recent), and trying new food around Hanoi. He is a huge Boston Celtics NBA fan!
· Informal and Out of School Time Learning (OST)
· Motivation and Basic Needs Theory (autonomy, competence, relatedness)
· Outdoor Recreation Management and Policy
· Creativity, Divergent Thinking
· Community Engaged Learning
· Human-Nature Relationship
· Outdoor Tourism and Cultural Narratives
· Experiential Education
· First Year Student Experience
· Service Learning and Leadership
· Outdoor Studies
· Alternative Education
· Educational Psychology
· Student Skill Building and Mentorship
· Public Narratives and Culture
· Discussion based teaching
Lynch, M. L., Ngoc Vu, H., Anh, D. N., Nguyen, Z., & Huyền, N. K. (2024). A qualitative study on university student learning as part of an outdoor leadership course in Vietnam. Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/14729679.2024.2401888
Lynch, M.L., Trauntvein, N.E., Barcelona, R.J., & Moorhead, C.A.E (2023). Retaining Camp’s Most Valuable Resource: A Study on the Fulfillment of Counselor Autonomy, Competence, and Relatedness and Their Impact on Willingness to Return. Journal of Park and Recreation Administration. doi: https://doi.org/10.18666/JPRA-2023-11849
Ferguson, M. D., Perry, E. E., Lynch, M. L., Ferguson, L. A., Kiewra, L. A., Leberman, M., Koopman, A, Barcelona, R., Reigner, N., & Manning, R. E. (2022). Expanding the Viewshed: Insights and Implications for Examining Visitor Use Management across Scales and Modalities in an Iconic National Forest. Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism.
Ferguson, M. D., Lynch, M. L., Evensen, D., Ferguson, L. A., Barcelona, R., and Giles, G. (2022). The Nature of the Pandemic: Exploring the Negative Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic upon Recreation Visitor Behaviors and Experiences in Parks and Protected Areas. Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism. doi: 10.1016/j.jort.2022.100498
Lynch, M. L., Hartman, C. L., Trauntvein, N. E., & Moorhead, C. A. E. (2020). Camp organizational support for creativity among new and returning camp counselors. Journal of Youth Development, 15(1), 24-46.doi.org/10.5195/jyd.2020.795
Ferguson, M. D., Lynch, M. L., Miller, Z. D., Ferguson, L. A., & Newman, P. (2020). What do outdoor recreationists think of fracking? Politics, ideology, and perceptions of shale gas energy development in Pennsylvania State Forests. Energy Research & Social Science, 62, 101384.
Ferguson, M. D., Lynch, M.L., Barrett, A. B., Powers, S. L., Evensen, D., Graefe, A. R., & Mowen, A. J. (2019). The Impacts of Marcellus Shale Natural Gas Energy Development on Outdoor Recreation- A Statewide Assessment of Pennsylvanians. Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism.
Lynch, M.L., Hegarty, C.B., Trauntvein., N., & Plucker., J.A. (2018). Summer camp as a force for 21st century learning: Exploring divergent thinking and activity selection in a residential camp setting. Journal of Youth Development, 13(1-2), 285-305. doi:10.5195/jyd.2018.544
Funded Projects
2024-2026: Title: Outdoor Tourism and the Changing Cultural Narratives in Ethnic Minority Communities. Funding Agency: The British Academy in London, My role: Co-Investigator. Funding Amount: $286,000 (See description here)
2024- 2028: Title: UNESCO Chair of Vietnam, focused on Environmental Leadership. Funding Agency: UNESCO, My role: Team Member. (See description here)
2024-2026: Title: Environmental Intelligence and Climate Resilience Among Bahnar Ethnic Minority Group in Central Vietnam. Funding Agency: The Center for Environmental Intelligence. My role: Principal Investigator, Advisors: Dr. David Harrison (Vice Provost) and Dr. Tran Hoai (VNU). Funding Amount: $20,000
2022-2024: Title: Exploring and Unfamiliar Territory: Outdoor and Experiential Education in Vietnam. Funding Agency: VinUniversity SEED Grant Program for Early Career Researchers. Establishment of the Vietnam Outdoor Research Collaborative. My role: Principal Investigator. Funding Amount: $20,000
Ph.D. 2019 University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire Education. Specialization: Children and Youth in Communities Dissertation title: Workplace creativity and motivation among counselors in a residential summer camp setting (focus on optimal health and basic need support) Dissertation co-chairs: Robert ‘Bob’ Barcelona & Nate Trauntvein
M.S. 2015 University of New Hampshire, Durham. New Hampshire Recreation Management and Policy (RMP) Thesis title: Assessing creativity via divergent thinking in a residential camp setting (focus on alternative thinking and student autonomy) Thesis chair: Nate Trauntvein
B.S. 2009 University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts Major: Psychology. Two minors: Philosophy and Education
· 2024: Researcher of the Year: VinUniversity – University wide award
· 2024: Faculty of the Year: VinUniversity – University wide award
· 2025: Champions of Change: Establishment of Vietnam Outdoor Research Collaborative
· 2024 – Certificate in Teaching and Learning Community Service Learning, Hong Kong Polytechnic University
· 2024 – Certificate in Teaching in Higher Education, Advance HE
· 2010-Current – Wilderness First Responder – Stone Hearth Open Learning School
· 2018-Current – Mental Health First Aid Certificate
