Professor Deirdre O'Loughlin, BA, MBS, PhD, MII Grad

I am Professor of Marketing in the Department of Management and Marketing at the Kemmy Business School in the University of Limerick. I held a number of positions in industry before joining academia as Lecturer in Marketing at Dublin City University and University College Cork before joining the Kemmy Business School,  Universtiy of Limerick in 2000. I have almost 30 years experience as a researcher, educator and academic leader. 

My research critically explores the intersection between marketing, consumption, vulnerability and social/public policy within a number of key contexts including consumer finance, economic insecurity, sustainability, and value co-creation, consumer agency and well-being in complex services. My research has been applied to to a number of key domains specifically consumer credit and debt, responses to austerity and other crises, experiences of family caring, sustainable consumption, and consumer brand engagement, and explores marketing and consumer responsibilities as well as social and public policy implications.

My core research interests reflected by the following areas:

• Consumer Financial Behaviour including Experiences of Financial Insecurity, Market Precarity and Socio-economic Uncertainty 
• Service Research Challenges including Experiences of Value Co-creation and Consumer Vulnerabilty within Complex Services e.g. Healthcare, Financial Services
• Sustainable and Ethical Consumption Perspectives and Experiences and Market Shaping Dynamics  
• Brand Engagement and Brand Communities, C2C/C2B Experiences and Interactions in a Digital Age

I have published in a broad range of highly ranked international peer reviewed journals including Journal of Service Research, Journal of Business Research, European Journal of Marketing, Sociology, Social Policy and Administration, The Services Industries Journal, Journal of Marketing Management, Journal of Strategic Marketing, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Irish Marketing Review, Australasia Journal of Marketing, Studies in Higher Education, and Innovations in Education and Training International. I co-edited a book titled Researching Poverty and Austerity, Theoretical Approaches, Methodologies and Policy Applications Moraes, C., McEachern, M. and O’Loughlin, D. (Eds), (Routledge, 2024) which was nominated for the British Academy of Management (BAM)/Chartered Association of Business Schools (CABS)/Chartered Management Institute (CMI) Management Publication of the Year award in 2024.

I have presented at many Irish, UK, European and international conferences including the Academy of Marketing, Macromarketing, European Marketing Association Conference (EMAC), Australasia New Zealand Marketing Association Conference (ANZMAC), AMA Winter Educators conference and Advances in Consumer Research (ACR) USA. I led a co-convened workshop titled "Vive La Révolution – Calling for Revolutionary Solutions to Consumer Financial Insecurity" at the Academy of Marketing conference, UK, July 2023. I am Co-Chair of Track titled "Poverty on Consumption", at the Macromarketing conference, Brazil in June 2025.

Regarding research awards, I was appointed Senior Hononary Research Fellow at Birmingham Businesss School, University of Birmingham, UK (2008-2015) and was awarded an International Research Fellowship (2022-2023) at the Centre for Household Assets and Savings Management (CHASM), Univeristy of Birmingham, where I continue to engage in research and teaching activities. 

I have successfully secured several external and internal research grants through CHASM, University of Birmingham, the Univeristy of Limerick /University of Massachusetts funding programme, and Combat Poverty Agency Ireland, as well as through several university seed-funding initiatives. I also secured Higher Education Authority / University of Limerick funding to explore best practices relation to peer observation of teaching processes (PoT).

I actively engage as expert reviewer for a wide range of marketing journals and conferences and hold the position of Associate Editor of the International Journal of Bank Marketing for which I co-edited a special issue: Perspectives on Sustainable Practices in Banking (Vol. 42, No. 4) in 2024.

I have a long-standing and wide-ranging teaching experience with small, medium and large group sizes across undergraduate, postgraduate/masters and executive pogammes. I am a passionate educator and have a deep and evidence-based commitment to teaching and learning as multiple award nominee and winner of teaching excellence at school, university and regional levels.

I was nominated several times for the UL Centre for Teaching and Learning excellence award (2004, 2005 and 2020) and was awarded the UL Excellence in Teaching (large groups) in 2005. I was also shortlisted for the Shannon Region Teaching Excellence Award in 2011 and 2012. In 2020, I was awarded winner of the Kemmy Business School Individaul Teaching Excellence by the Centre for Transformative Learning and shortlisted for the UL Individual Teaching Excellence Award in 2020.

I completed the H. Dip in International Teaching Programme (ITP) at the Swedish School of Economics in 2005 and actively engage in professional development of teaching. I am deeply committed to active learning, employing many expriential techqniques within my teaching and assessment to boost learner engagment. I have led many seminars on best practice and innovations at many pedagogical conferences and workshops.

Reflecting my strong interest in language and cultural exchange, I have gained extensive  international teaching experience and forged several pedagogical partnerships. As a Senior Research Fellow at Birmingham Business School, I actively engaged in MSc teaching and supervisory activities, leading large size modules with interntional masters students. I have also participated in the Erasmus+Teaching Mobility Programme and completed teaching exchanges with the Athens University of Economics and Business, Greece in 2013 and 2015.

Regarding visiting lecturships and professorships, I was invited as a Visiting Lecturer by Hanken School of Ecoomics, Finland in 2006 and in 2024 as a Visiting Professor and keynote speaker by CERS (Centre for Relationship and Service Management). I was also invited as Visiting Professor and keynote speaker by Oviedo School of Business, Spain in 2023. I participated twice on the Visiting Professorship (ViP) programme at the École de Management, University of Strasbourg (2023 and 2024) where I taught Current Issues in Marketing to international masters-level marketing students, led research seminars with faculty and doctoral scholars and where I continue to engage in PhD co-supervision.  

I have experience in a wide of teaching at UG, PG and Executive levels with various-sized learner groups across several insitutions in Ireland, UK and Europe. My particular expertise is relfected by the following selection of modules/courses:

• Marketing and Society (MSc in Marketing Consumption and Society)
• Tourism Services Marketing (MA in International Tourism)
• International Marketing (MSc in International Management and Global Business)
• Strategic Brand Management (Bachelor of Business Studies, BA in International Business, BA in Applied Languages)
• Product & Brand Strategy; Services Marketing, Professional Dip in Digital Marketing Strategy, Irish Management Institue
• Current Issues in Marketing, Masters Diplome Grande École, École de Management, University of Strasbourg, France.
• Contemporary Issues in Marketing, MSc in Marketing, Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham, UK

Academic and Service Leadership

I have held many leadership and strategic roles at departmental, school and university levels and continue to actively engage with practitioners and professional bodies.  I served on the UL Athena Swan Accreditation Committee which led to the successful Athena Swan Silver Institutional Award in 2023. I am currently KBS Representative Member of the UL Research Rankings committee. 

I served on KBS Management Group as Assistant Dean Research/Director of Research for the Kemmy Business School (2019-2022) and was responsible for leading and implementing the research efforts of the school and developing the KBS 2022-2027 research strategy. As Assstant Dean, Research, I was strategic lead for KBS Research as part of the successful EQUIS Accreditation submission, resulting in the school successfully securing 3 years accreditation (2021- 2024).

I have held senior posiitons on many other strategic committees including as Chair of the KBS Research Committee, Chair of the KBS Research Ethics Committee, Member of the UL Research Ethics Committee, Member of UL Academic Council and on UL Graduate Research Working Group. 

Reflecting my commitment to programme leadership, I have held several key roles including Programme Director, BBS and BBS and Languages (Ireland's biggest UG BBS programme) and have served on several university and school level committees including UL Marketing Committee, BBS Course Board (Chair) and Student Status Committee. I successfully chaired the Department of Management and Marketing Quality Review Committee in 2012 and led the Review of the BBS in 2014-2015.  I actively engage as UL Academic Mentor and have guided early and mid-career academics across the university.

I am a long-standing graduate member of the Marketing Institute of Ireland (MII Grad.), an Associate of the Irish Management Institute, and actively involved with academic and professional marketing organisations, representative bodies, practitioners and industry networks.  I am a member of the Board of Directors of the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience (2018- present) and actively advise on key strategic marketing initiatives including the development of their 2040 Strategic Plan.