Organising Committee

Professor Sandra Jones

Academic Co-Chair

Professor Sandra Jones is an ARC Future Fellow and Director of the Centre for Health and Social Research (CHaSR) at the Australian Catholic University (Melbourne). Sandra’s research focuses on the relationship between media and health, including the impacts of advertising in the print and electronic media on health behaviour, and the use of social marketing to improve population health.

From 2004 to 2014 she was the Founding Director of the Centre for Health Initiatives at the University of Wollongong. Under Sandra’s leadership, UOW’s Centre for Health Initiatives conducted numerous community-based interventions, often in partnership with health services and NGOs, to improve the uptake of health promoting and risk-reducing behaviours. Recent community interventions include asthma among older adults, dementia risk reduction, cold and flu prevention, mental health help-seeking, physical activity and nutrition.

For more than a decade Sandra has been conducting research in the area of influences on young people’s alcohol consumption, including alcohol advertising and marketing; and her ARC Future Fellowship is a four-year whole of community intervention to address social norms around underage drinking.

Sandra’s career research funding exceeds $8 million; and she has published more than 150 referred journal articles, six book chapters, and numerous policy-related monographs and reports. She is also a member of a range of policy and advisory committees, including those of cancer organizations in Australia and overseas.

Dr Nadia Zainuddin

Academic Co-Chair

Nadia Zainuddin is a lecturer in marketing at the University of Wollongong. She currently works at the Faculty of Business and is based in both Sydney and Wollongong campuses in New South Wales, Australia. She is a member of the Centre for Health Initiatives at UOW, as well as the Australian Association of Social Marketing (AASM) where she is the Sydney Hub Lead. Her research in social marketing draws primarily from services marketing and consumer behaviour. She is a specialist in the area of value theory and value creation in social marketing.

Nadia researches in topic areas including health, wellness and wellbeing, branding, sustainability, and services in social marketing. Her work has been published in a number of academic journals such as the European Journal of Marketing, and the Journal of Marketing Management, and she is on the editorial board of the Journal of Services Marketing. Nadia travels extensively and regularly speaks at various international conferences such as the American Marketing Association Services Special Interest Group (AMA SERVSIG) Conference and the World Social Marketing Conference.

In her leisure, Nadia enjoys the occasional run around Sydney and discovering new running routes around parks and along beaches around the world when she travels. You will also find her in a stadium somewhere during rugby season, as she is an avid fan of rugby union, enjoying the SuperRugby Tournament, Bledisloe Cup, Rugby Championship, Six Nations, and Rugby World Cup.

Dr Ross Gordon

Academic Co-Chair

Ross is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing at Macquarie University in Sydney. He previously worked at and remains a member of the Centre for Health Initiatives at the University of Wollongong, and also worked at the Institute for Social Marketing at The Open University (ISM-Open) and prior to that the ISM at the University of Stirling. He is also a member of the management committee of the Australian Association of Social Marketing (AASM). His expertise lies in social marketing, consumer cultures, and critical marketing teaching and research. He has been a principal or named investigator on projects attracting over $6.5m in research funds in Australia, UK, Europe and India.

He has extensive experience managing and conducting research using mixed methodologies including longitudinal quantitative surveys, systematic reviews and meta-analyses, focus groups, depth interviews, observation research, ethnography, content analysis, and experimental studies. His current research interests include, social marketing theory and practice, strategic and systems level social marketing, consumer cultures, critical social marketing, sustainability, marketing ethics, and critical marketing. Ross is also a specialist on the topic of alcohol marketing. He has acted an expert advisor to the Scottish Government, the European Commission, Cancer Institute, and a range of other NGOs on various social marketing topics.

He has published 60 academic journals, book chapters and conference papers, including in outlets such as the European Journal of Marketing, Marketing Theory, and the Journal of Social Marketing, and has delivered numerous client reports and invited speaking engagements. He is an academic co-chair of the 2015 World Social Marketing Conference, is guest editing a special issue of the Journal of Marketing Management on Advancing Theory and Research in Social Marketing, and is the incoming new president of the Australian Association of Social Marketing. He will also be co-authoring a textbook on strategic social marketing with Jeff French due for completion in late 2014. Ross is a keen player and follower of sports including football, tennis and cycling, loves travelling, enjoys current affairs, and is a big music fan and occasional techno DJ.

Google Scholar: http://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=npZ4I3gAAAAJ&hl=en

Linkedin: http://au.linkedin.com/pub/dr-ross-gordon/4a/25b/38a

Professor Jeff French

Conference Chair

Jeff French is a recognised global leader in the application of behaviour change and social marketing. Jeff has extensive experience of developing leading and evaluating behaviour change projects, social marketing programmes and the development of communication strategies at international, national, regional and local level.

With over 30 years experience at the interface between government, public, private and NGO sectors Jeff has a broad practical and theoretical understanding of national and international health and social development issues.

Jeff and has published over 70 chapters, articles and books in the fields of behaviour change, social marketing, community development, health promotion and communications. Jeff is a visiting professor at Brunel University and Brighton University and a Fellow at Kings College University London and teaches at four other Universities in the UK.

Jeff was the Director of Communication and Policy at the Health Development Agency for five years from 2000 – 2005. In March 2005 From July 2006 through to July 2009 Jeff set up and managed the National Social Marketing Centre for England. In August 2009 Jeff became the Chief Executive of Strategic Social Marketing Ltd.

Strategic Social Marketing works with clients from all over the world in the private, NGO and public sector on the development and evaluation of social behaviour change programmes. Strategic Social Marketing also provides consultancy services to some of the world’s biggest corporate communications and research companies.

Jeff continues to act as the principle adviser to the National Social Marketing Centre and the Department of Health behaviour Change and Social Marketing policy team. Jeff also acts as an advisor to a number of national policy committees, the EUCDC Knowledge and Resource Centre in Health Communication project, and is a member of the organising committee of the Global Social Marketer’s network. Jeff is a member of the editorial Boards of the International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing and the Journal of Social Marketing.

Jeff is Conference Chair of the World Social Marketing Conference. His new book ‘Social Marketing and Public Health Theory and Practice’, published by Oxford University Press is now available. Jeff is also the author of the NSMC’s new guide to procuring and managing the delivery of social marketing service.