Profile

Profile

Jane is a Lecturer in Marketing at Newcastle University Business School. She has previously lectured at Northumbria University, Sunderland University, Newcastle College and Gateshead College. Her research interests lie within consumer behaviour, financial decision-making, stigmatised services and communications. She is an expert in qualitative research approaches. She has published in leading academic journals such as Marketing Theory, Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, and Journal of Financial Services Marketing.

Jane has worked in industry across several sectors at management level including not-for-profit, military and aerospace engineering, zero/low carbon engineering, and cosmetics. Proficient in the Adobe suite for artwork creation and brand application, Jane has designed and implemented several branding/re-branding activities for SMEs.

Roles and responsibilities

• Co-Director of Equality, Diversity & Inclusion
• UG & PG Marketing dissertation supervisor
• PhD supervisor
• MBA/EMBA interviewer
• Personal Tutor

Previous roles

• 2022-2025: Academic Lead International Recruitment (NN52/N500)

Qualifications and certificates

• Personal Development Course for EEs, 2024, AdvanceHE
• PhD Consumer Behaviour, 2018, Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK
• FHEA, 2014, AdvanceHE
• PGHEP, 2014, Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK
• PTLLS, 2009, Newcastle College, Newcastle, UK
• MA Marketing, distinction, 2007, Sunderland Business School, Sunderland University, Sunderland, UK
• BA (Hons) Design Management & Innovation, first class, 2006, School of Art & Design, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK

Previous academic positions

• 2011 - 2021: Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Marketing, Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK.
• 2011 (cover for absence): Associate Lecturer in Consumer Behaviour, School of Business & Management, Sunderland University, Sunderland, UK.
• 2008 - 2009: CIM Lecturer, Gateshead College, Gateshead, UK.
• 2007 - 2008: CIM Lecturer, Newcastle College, Newcastle, UK.

Current work

• Indebtedness and consumer financial decision-making
• Social rituals and engaging with stigmatised financial services
• Exploring grocery panic buying/stockpiling as a deviant behaviour during crisis 
• Visual methods for complex, longitudinal and emotional storytelling
• Using pronoun poetry to explore emotional storytelling

Expertise

My main research interests involve consumer financial decision-making. I have a particular interest in the use of alternative credit sources e.g. payday loans, doorstep loans, pawning, buy now pay later. I am also keen to explore deviant consumer behaviours such as panic buying, hoarding, stockpiling, compulsive buying etc. I am an advocate of qualitative research methods, such as Lived Experience Mapping, I-poetry/VCRM, and feminist methodologies.

Funding received

• Exploration of Buy Now Pay Later credit products with co-investigators Prof. J. Farquhar, Solent; Dr C. Apostolidis, Durham; 2023 (Solent University RIKE Award, £9,000)
• Various conferences, Northumbria Postgraduate Conference Bursary Scheme (competitive), 2013-2016.
• Competitive Bursary, Academy of Marketing Doctoral Colloquium attendance 2014 (Marketing Trust)
• Competitive Bursary, Academy of Marketing Doctoral Colloquium attendance 2013 (Marketing Trust)
• Fully funded Masters study plus £500 travel grant, 2006 (European Social Fund).

Postgraduate supervision

Bushra Shehzad

Nida Shamim

Wenqi Li

Esteem indicators

• Invited speaker: Using pronoun-poetry to research indebted consumers’ money management strategies, Centre for Responsible Business and CHASM, 2025, Birmingham, UK.
• Invited attendee: StepChange Roundtable: Debt's early grip: The Challenges facing young adults, StepChange Debt Charity, 2024, London, UK.
• Expert discussant: Representations of Moneylenders in Film, TV, and Literature, Great North Night: Festive Folklore and Magical Musings, Great North Museum: Hancock, 2023, Newcastle, UK.
• Invited speaker: Normalisation of Debt: Exploring Buy Now Pay Later, seminar, School for Business and Society, University of York, 2023, Co-presenter.
• Marketing Research Community Seminar (NUBS): I'm not panic buying, I'm buying a little extra. 2022, Co-presenter. 
• Guest lecturer: Value co-destruction in Airbnb. International Week: Mission Sustainable, 2019, AUAS, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
• Invited speaker: Hidden vs visible consumer stigma, seminar, 2018, York St John University, York, UK.
• Invited speaker: Using the I-poem method, seminar, 2017, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.
• Invited speaker: Using the I-poem method, seminar, 2016, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, UK.
• Organising committee, Doctoral Colloquium, Academy of Marketing 2016, held at Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK.
• Invited speaker: Various topics including doctoral research poster design, 2013 - 2017, Newcastle Business School PG Research Surgeries, Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK.

Media appearances

I am open to commenting about consumer financial decision-making, on topics such as borrowing, spending and saving on Radio/Articles/Podcasts. I have previously appeared as a subject expert on rasio shows such as KCBS News - San Francisco, The Voice of Islam, and written columns for local newspapers, and pieces for The Conversation.

Other

• The Future of Consumer Research IV Symposium, 2025, Stirling, Scotland. Attendee.
• The Future of Consumer Research II Symposium, 2023, Stirling, Scotland. Attendee.
• The Future of Consumer Research, I Symposium, 2022, Stirling, Scotland. Attendee.
• 1st North American CCT Doctoral Colloquium, 2018, Schulich School of Business, York University, Toronto, Canada. PhD candidate/participant.
• KATAJA (Finnish Doctoral Program in Business Studies) Advanced Consumer Behaviour Workshop, 2014, Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland. PhD candidate/participant.

Current modules taught

• MKT1002: Introduction to Marketing (20 credits)

Previous NUBS modules:  

• MKT3097: Marketing Consultancy Project (40 credits)
• MKT3096: Marketing Dissertation (40 credits)
• BUS3005: Advanced Business Topics (40 credits)
• MKT3095: Cultural & Heritage Marketing (20 credits)
• MKT2012: Consumer Behaviour (20 credits)

• MKT3095: Cultural & Heritage Marketing (Internal Moderator)
• MKT2001/2101: Global Marketing (Internal Moderator)
• MKT1010 & NBS8527: Ethics in Marketing, Critical Consumption, and Corporate Social Responsibility (Internal Moderator)

• Articles

  • Apostolidis C, Brown J, Farquhar JD. Stigma in payday borrowing: a service ecosystems approach. European Journal of Marketing 2023, 57(10).
  • Apostolidis C, Brown J. Sharing Is Caring? Conflict and Value Codestruction in the Case of Sharing Economy Accommodation. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research 2022, 46(5), 1027-1055.
  • Brown J, Apostolidis C, Farquhar JD. Blaming me, blaming you! The pendulum of blame in payday lending. Marketing Theory 2021, 21(4), 517-538.
  • Brown J, Wäppling A, Woodruffe-Burton HR. The Questionnaire: A Weak Link in Corporate Identity?. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal 2020, 23(1), 87-107.
  • Brown J, Wäppling A, Woodruffe-Burton HR, Black K. The orbit of consumer credit choices. Journal of Financial Services Marketing 2017, 20(2), 85–96.
  • Brown J, Woodruffe-Burton HR. Exploring emotions and irrationality in attitudes towards consumer indebtedness: Individual perspectives of UK payday loan consumption. Journal of Financial Services Marketing 2015, 20(2), 107-121.

• Book Chapters

  • Brown J. Student Emails. In: Downey H; Takhar J; Gaviria PR; Kozinets R, ed. Creatively Conjured Timbres. London, 2025, pp.40-41.
  • Brown J. Pronoun-poem: Bonnie, 38, on borrowing and indebtedness. In: Downey H; Takhar J; Gaviria PR; Kozinets R, ed. Creatively Conjured Timbres. London, 2025, pp.42-43.
  • Brown J, Farquhar JD. Lived experience mapping: Getting the most out of longitudinal, complex and emotive stories with participant-generated visuals. In: Kawaf F; Dekel-Dachs O, ed. Visual Methods in Marketing and Consumer Research. London: Routledge, 2024.
  • Brown J, Apostolidis C. Rationing during COVID-19: Is an ‘equal share’ always fair?. In: Gallitto E; Massi M; Harrison P, ed. Consumption, Production, and Entrepreneurship in the Time of Coronavirus : A Business Perspective of the Pandemic. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, 2022, pp.11-37.

• Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstracts)

  • Brown J, Apostolidis C, Farquhar JD. Representations of moneylenders in literature, movies, and TV. In: Consumer Culture Theory Conference (CCTC 2024). 2024, San Diego, California, USA.
  • Brown J, Apostolidis C, Farquhar J. Representations of moneylenders in literature, film, and TV. In: Academy of Marketing Conference (AM2024). 2024, Cardiff, Wales: Academy of Marketing.
  • Brown J. I-poems: Kenny, 38 and Maureen, 47. In: Consumer Culture Theory Conference 2024. 2024, San Diego.
  • Brown J, Farquhar J. Seeing into the Soul Through Informant-Generated Visuals: An abstract. In: Academy of Marketing Science World Marketing Congress. 2023, Canterbury, England: Academy of Marketing Science.
  • Farquhar J, Brown J, Apostolidis C, Mogaji E. New Credit-Old Debt: The (Non)Revolution of BNPL Finance. In: Academy of Marketing Conference. 2023, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
  • Farquhar J, Brown J, Apostolidis C. Workshop hosts - Hard times: Rough Threads Woven Through the Fabric of Life. In: Academy of Marketing Conference. 2022, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, England.
  • Apostolidis A, Brown J, Dey B, Brown DM. Keep Calm and Buy a Little Extra - Exploring Panic Buying as a Deviant Behaviour. In: 15th Annual Conference of the EuroMed Academy of Business. 2022, Palermo, Italy: EuroMed Press.
  • Lichy J, Apostolidis C, Do Vale G, Brown J. Digitising the loom overnight: A comparison of voices within academia. In: Academy of Marketing Conference. 2022, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, England.
  • Brown J, Apostolidis C, Farquhar JD. Deviating to conform: Engaging with stigmatised services to avoid value co-destruction and social stigmatisation. In: Academy of Marketing Conference. 2021, Online: Academy of Marketing.
  • Brown J. Pressures and Jolts: Consumer Credit Choices. In: Academy of Marketing Conference. 2016, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, England.
  • Brown J, Black K, Woodruffe-Burton H, Wappling. Affording Christmas: The Festive Season as Identity Work. In: 30th British Academy of Management Conference : Thriving in turbulent times. 2016, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, England: British Academy of Management.
  • Woodruffe-Burton H, Brown J. The I-poem: Uncovering meaning in narrative data in our study of UK consumer debt. In: 8th Workshop on Interpretive Consumer Research (ICR). 2015, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland.
  • Brown J. Aesthetics in Questionnaire Design. In: 2nd International Colloquium on Design, Branding and Marketing. 2014, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, England.

• Online Publications

  • Copilah-Ali J, Brown J. Buy now pay later: Klarna is courting young shoppers with Paris Hilton and TikTok-style algorithms – here’s why it’s a problem. London: The Conversation Trust (UK) Limited, 2023. Available at: https://theconversation.com/buy-now-pay-later-klarna-is-courting-young-shoppers-with-paris-hilton-and-tiktok-style-algorithms-heres-why-its-a-problem-202999.
  • Brown J. Black Friday marketing tricks and four ways to stop yourself falling for them. The Conversation, 2018. Available at: https://theconversation.com/black-friday-marketing-tricks-and-four-ways-to-stop-yourself-falling-for-them-107327.
  • Brown J. Six ways to avoid a festive financial hangover. The Conversation Trust, 2016. Available at: https://theconversation.com/six-ways-to-avoid-a-festive-financial-hangover-69258.