Professor Rebekah Russell-Bennett is the Associate Dean Research for the Faculty of Business, Government and Law and a Professor in marketing.  She received her Ph.D  from University of Queensland.  Rebekah has an international reputation for research and industry relevance in the field of Social Marketing (using commercial marketing to address social problems such as alcohol consumption,  chronic disease, water usage, electricity use, public transport and diet).  Rebekah uses theories and frameworks from services marketing and social marketing to co-create innovative services and products that support people in their life, protect the planet and enable organisational success. Rebekah has attracted more than $20m in funding from the ARC, industry and government organisations which is evidence of the high impact of her research.  She has a h-index of 53 and 22,476 citations.   Specific areas of research are:

• Customer vulnerability
• Social marketing (behaviour change)
• Transformative service research
• Social impact in business research
• Technology that improves lives and protects the planet (Gen AI, robots)
• Effective service design
• Women and small business

Rebekah has won 15+ research awards including:

• 2025 Bo Edvardsson award for research impact, QUIS service conference
• 2022 Best academic paper award – International Social Marketing Conference
• 2021 Robert Johnston award for best paper in the Journal of Service Management
• 2021 Best paper award – social marketing track, Australia and New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference (ANZMAC)
• 2019 Top Australian researcher in the field of marketing (The Australian)
• 2019 Best research paper award - World Social Marketing Conference, Edinburgh

Engagement and service roles

Rebekah has held many engagement roles including editorial and board appointments:

• Founding editor of Journal of Social Impact of Business Research 2024+
• Co-editor Journal of Services Marketing 2014 – 2024
• Board member, Minho Business School (Portugal)
• Australian officer for ServCollab, international organisation dedicated to  serving humanity through service research
• Social impact officer for American Marketing Association Services Special Interest Group (SERVSIG)
• Steering committee member, Group of Energy Efficiency Researchers Australia
• Board member, Strategic Advisory Committee, Breastscreen Queensland
• Inaugural elected president of the Australian Association of Social Marketing
• Deputy President Australian Marketing Institute (Qld)

Rebekah has won industry awards for applied research:

• 2016 Winner - National Australian Institute of Marketing Awards - Best mobile.
• 2016 QLD state iAwards for innovation – Mobile category

Accepting HDR and honours students

Rebekah has supervised 51 research students to completion and is known internationally for her active mentorship of students through the creation of opportunities. She won the 2024 Australian Business Deans Council award for best supervisor and mentor.  The topics Rebekah is able to supervise are listed above.

Teaching expertise

Rebekah has teaching expertise in the areas of marketing and innovation. She has written numerous textbooks including the #1 consumer behaviour textbook in Australia.  Her teaching areas of expertise are:

• Social marketing – marketing for good
• Consumer behaviour
• Designing innovative goods and services
• Marketing planning and management
• Developing research proposals
• Services marketing

Rebekah has won many teaching awards including:

• 2024 ABDC award for best supervision and mentorship
• 2018 QUT Vice Chancellors Excellence Award for Teaching (QUTopia)
• 2015 QUT Vice-Chancellor Performance Fund Award - Teaching
• 2014 Australian Office of Teaching and Learning (OLT) citation for outstanding contribution to student learning