Dr Ian Patterson is an Associate Professor in the School of Tourism, Faculty of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Queensland. Since 2001 he has been Head of the Sport and Leisure for the School. His teaching areas at UQ are in the following courses: Sport Management; Tourism and Leisure Behaviour; and Strategic Sport Management and Independent Report in the Master of Business program

He has written two books: Growing Older: Tourism and Leisure Behaviour of Older Adults and Celebrating Inclusion and Diversity in Leisure, ten book chapters, and over 50 peer-reviewed journal articles in the area of leisure and health, many with an emphasis on older adults and people with disabilities.

He was a member of a research team that was awarded an ARC Linkage Grant in 2004/2005 of $149,291 working with the Brisbane and Ipswich City Councils. The Title of the Project was "Increasing and Sustaining Physical Activity Levels of Sedentary Older Adults by Improving Social Support and Links with Local Community Resources".

His research has concentrated on researching healthy older people and in particular the social-psychological needs of older people who undertake physical activity and adventure tourism programs. He is also interested in researching the leisure needs of youth, especially looking at the concept of leisure boredom as it relates to alcohol and drug addiction.

He has been an active committee member of many professional and community organisations such as The Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation, where he held senior management positions. Between 1993 and 1998 he was elected National Vice President, and in 1986 he received the prestigious award of Fellow of ACHPER for his meritorious work for the Council. He was also on the Board of Directors of the Recreation Industry Council of Australia between 1996 and 1999. He is presently on the Board of ANZALS (Australian and New Zealand Association of Leisure Studies) and since 2004 he has been an Editor of the journal Annals of Leisure Research.