Dr Alison Lawson
Find a member of staff
Job title: Senior Lecturer in Marketing and Programme Leader for postgraduate programmes in marketing
Email: a.lawson@derby.ac.uk
Phone No: 01332 591190
Room: E305, Kedleston Road
Recent publications
- Lawson, A. (2011) 'Research award celebration starts new community', practical research for education, 44, 33-4.
- Lawson, A. (2011) 'Tool-kit 11: Writing up research - some tips to get you started', practical research for education, 44, 7-11.
- Lawson, A. (2011) (ed.) Research tool-kit: the how-to guide from practical research for education, volume 2. Slough: NFER.
- Lawson, A. (2010) 'Research award celebration starts new community', Education Journal, 124, 29.
- Lawson, A. (2010) (chair) Education for employment and life: symposium at BERA 2010, Research Intelligence, September 2010, p.20.
- Lawson, A. (ed.) (2009) Action research: making a difference in education. Slough: NFER.
- Lawson, A. (ed.) (2008) Research tool-kit: the how-to guide from practical research for education. Slough: NFER.
Experience in Industry
Deputy Head of Communications, Marketing and Information Services
National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER)
2002-2010
Senior Lecturer in Publishing
West Herts College, Watford
2000-2002
Prior to the lectureship at West Herts College I worked in the publishing industry from 1992 to 2000 for the following publishers:
- Chapman & Hall
- Kogan Page Limited
- SPCK
- BMJ Books
Faculty: Business, Computing and Law
School: Derby Business School
Subject Area: Marketing
Supporting the Faculty and School vision
The best way for me to help achieve the vision is to provide the best quality experience possible to every student I meet. This means preparing up-to-date and interesting teaching materials, using a variety of teaching and learning methods, setting relevant and interesting assignments, enabling skills development and encouraging employer engagement. It also means good pastoral care of the students - making time to be there when they need me and helping them to achieve their goals. Well qualified and satisfied Derby graduates will spread good word of mouth about Derby and impress employers, helping us to achieve the vision.
Teaching responsibilities
I teach on undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in marketing. I am module leader for Creative Advertising Solutions, Services Ingenuity and Advertising Account Planning and am online tutor for Marketing Communications and Branding. I also teach on other modules including Public Relations for Reputation Management, Interactive Services Marketing and Marketing Metrics. In addition, I supervise students on the Independent Studies module on undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, helping them to develop research ideas, conduct their own research and form new knowledge.
Professional interests
I'm interested in services marketing, marketing in the publishing industry, the impact of information technology on marketing and in how students feel about their experience of learning.
Research interests
My research interests include the impact of emerging technologies on the way marketing activities are carried out and on marketing efficacy. I'm also interested in why students choose to study marketing and in the links between what students learn and the knowledge and skills employers need them to have. As a marketer I'm particularly interested in the marketing of services and in the use of the service theatre model for analysing, developing and marketing complex services. As an educator I'm interested in the effect of the widening participation agenda on learners' identities.
Membership of professional bodies and advisory committees
- Member of the Learning and Skills Research Network (LSRN).
- Member of the Higher Education Academy (HEA).
Recent Conferences
- Education for employment and life symposium chair at the British Educational Research Association (Bera) conference, Warwick University, 3 September 2010.
- Supporting practitioner engagement in research, presented at the Research Celebration Day, City College Norwich, July 2010.
- Connected resources for research and practice, presented at the Universities Council for the Education of Teachers, Hinckley, 10 November 2009.
Additional Interests and Activities
I want students to have the best time of their lives while they're at university. It's a time that they learn their subject, have fun and learn about other people from other backgrounds, share experiences and broaden their horizons.
I believe research is important for academic credibility and it must have a provable impact in order to make a difference to anyone. Even projects with potential for small-scale impact should have tailored dissemination plans.
Personally, I'm passionate about getting communication right - putting the audience first, not making assumptions about what is already known and using plain English rather than jargon.
Undergraduate qualifications
- BA (Hons) Publishing and German, Oxford Brookes University
Postgraduate qualifications
- Master of Business Administration (MBA), Keele University
- Postgraduate Programme in Learning and Teaching, University of Derby
Research qualifications
- PhD on the impact of ICT on roles, systems and processes in UK book publishing, University of Manchester
Research posts
| Institution | Project | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| NFER | Membership survey and analysis for the Institute for Learning | July 2009 to January 2010 |
