Professor Helen Woodruffe-Burton

Profile

Biography

I am Professor of Marketing and, from 2016 to September 2023, I was the Director of the Business School at Edge Hill University. Previously, I was Professor of Marketing and Subject Group Lead at Newcastle Business School, University of Northumbria and prior to that I held the position of Reader in Marketing and Director of the Graduate School at the University of Cumbria. My academic career spans more than three decades in HE prior to which I worked in sales and marketing in the banking and computing industries. I joined Salford University as a lecturer in Marketing and then went on to spend ten years in Lancaster University Management School as Senior Lecturer where I gained my PhD in 2001.

My research focuses mainly on consumers and the role of consumption in people’s lives. In addition to my work relating to consumer behaviour in the marketplace, I have published widely on issues around gender, identity and sexual orientation, most recently extending the field of my interest to the workplace and careers. I also have a longstanding interest in services marketing, and methodological issues such as methodology and researcher reflexivity. I have published widely in the areas of consumer behaviour and marketing with many conference papers and articles in refereed journals and a number of book chapters as well as a book on Services Marketing. I served for many years on the Executive Committee of the Academy of Marketing (AM) and was Co-Chair of the AM conference in 2016. I was also a Co-Chair of the Critical Management Studies conference hosted by Edge Hill University in Liverpool in July 2017. I sit on various editorial boards and am a reviewer for a wide range of national and international journals and conferences. I have a particular interest in Diversity and Equality and was a founder member of the Chartered Association of Business Schools EDI Committee. I have also held elected roles in the Chartered Institute of Marketing, North West Region. 

Research Interests

Marketing, services marketing SMEs, consumer behaviour, consumer culture theory, transformative consumer research, Gender and Diversity.

I have published extensively and built an international reputation within my research fields. My work is cited in the highest ranking journals including the Journal of Marketing, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Management and other leading journals in fields including Geography, Psychology, Culture, Design and Travel. 

Teaching

I have taught on a wide range of Marketing modules and related subjects at undergraduate and postgraduate level. I have also developed and delivered research development workshops to faculty and PGRs. I have won two awards for teaching excellence at Lancaster University Management School.