About Sharyn
Professor Sharyn Rundle-Thiele is the Founding Director, Social Marketing @ Griffith and Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Social Marketing. Drawing on her commercial marketing background Sharyn’s research focuses on applying marketing to benefit people and the planet.
Sharyn's mission
Sharyn wants to see marketing applied more often. Marketing is the only voluntary approach that can be applied to change people’s behaviour.
Bringing people with you is the ONLY way to go!
Sharyn is committed to:
- Building social marketing capacity through training
- Advancing scientific understanding so that we know what works, when, where and why
- Delivering changes to benefit people and the planet
Her Latest Projects
Working together to make autumn leaves a valuable resource, not a nuisance
Funded by ACT Government this project aims to reduce the amount of leaves entering ACT waterways. The Leaf Collective was co-created with ACT residents and experts working on water quality, waste removal composting and much more. This 6 month project involves the delivery of a 6 week pilot project and evaluation.
Follow the collective on Facebook:
Switch Your Fish
This two year project is led by Currie Communications aims to contribute to increasing stocks of snapper and pearl perch. Our team led pilot program co-creation of Switch Your Fish, a 6 month pilot promoting alternative fish species to recreational fishers. This project is funded by the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation.
Follow them on Facebook:
Designing Community-Led Action Plans
A Queensland Government funded project aiming to enhance community safety for young people in Toowoomba and Bundaberg. The project involves working with young people, caregivers, and key stakeholders to set priorities and co-design locally tailored responses that will be implemented in the local community.
A tiered approach to the diagnosis of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder in remote Indigenous primary care settings
Funded by the Australian Government's National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), this Partnership Project is led by Griffith University’s Dianne Shanley. This study aims to test an assessment to diagnose Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). This project aims to build a test that is less time-intensive and more culturally sensitive than the assessments that are currently used, delivering improved health care and cost savings for families.
Creating Collective Solutions
This three month project funded by Asthma Australia will bring stakeholders from different backgrounds together to set and agree on priority areas for action that can reduce hospitalisation rates for children with asthma. This stakeholder engagement approach takes a wide systems view and works across silos bringing stakeholders together to agree on areas of action that can be applied in the short and longer term.
No Time To Waste
Funded by the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, No Time To Waste delivers a new three-part webinar series in 2021 hosted by Social Marketing @ Griffith, Plastic Oceans Australasia, Green Technology Center, and Hongik University. Digital certificates will be issued to completed program participants. Watch the 2020 No Time To Waste series here.
Asthma Australia
Asthma Australia’s goal is to halve avoidable asthma hospitalisations by 2030, a key focus is on children 5-9 years old. This project involved us bringing together 200+ different stakeholders who identified 440+ priorities. The consensus process identified 12 key priorities and solutions to implement in New South Wales.
19-20 October 2023
Brisbane, QLD or Live-stream
Join her at the Change 2023 conference for two days of learning, networking, and inspiration as we explore the latest insights and best practices for achieving measurable change to benefit people, communities, and the planet.
Her Long Standing Projects
Leave It
Over the past four years, Leave it has changed community conversations and reduced domestic pet and wildlife interactions. Serving Australia’s koalas is an honour. Our work continues with the current focus on understanding how we can increase driver awareness and build more community support to protect koalas.
Blurred Minds
Blurred Minds is our longest-running program. Over the past 10 years, this program has been delivered to more than 15,000 students. This program changes the way people think about alcohol and it supports parents to increase conversations with their adolescents. Our tools are available for school use. Our games have been played more than 30,000 times.
Go Food
Go Food is Social Marketing @ Griffith's second-longest-running program underpinned by an award-winning program of research. Over time we have delivered increases in healthy food choices for more than 6,000 people through changing the food environment and delivering motivating communication campaigns.
Her Recently Completed Projects
Finding Enablers of Behaviour Change in the Cane Industry
National Environment Science Program Project 4.12 is a three-year project that is focussed on measuring cost-effectiveness and identifying key barriers and enablers of lasting behavioural change in the cane industry. Read more about our progress to date here.
Behaviour Change for Conservation
Behaviour Change for Conservation is an open-access online course that we developed in partnership with TRAFFIC. This course is for behavioural change practitioners, social marketers, communicators, and anyone else looking to develop or implement a behavioural change intervention for conservation gain.
Data Co-op
Data Co-op brings people and data together to guide decisions to combat some of Australia’s biggest challenges. Visual platforms make it easy to see what needs to be changed. By the end of 2020 we will have a clear picture of Queensland’s food environment .
O-it
Funded by the Australian Research Council’s Linkage Program, the first pilot was launched in January 2020. The pilot aimed to get people to donate-it or buy goods from our pop-up shop. Over the next three years, we will be running a series of pilots and working with Australian charities to roll out a nationwide campaign in partnership with the Department of Environment & Science and NACRO. Read more here.
Awards, publications & more
Awards
Commendation Award, Emerald Literati Network (2019), The Phillip Kotler Social Marketing Distinguished Service Award (2018), High Impact Applied Research Award, Griffith Business School (2018), Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning, Australian Learning & Teaching Council (2008).
Research profile
Find more about Sharyn's academic endeavours on her Griffith Expert profile.
LinkedIn profile
Visit Sharyn's LinkedIn profile
I think much like Nike – “Just Do It.”
~ Prof Sharyn Rundle-Thiele