Dr Donna Mai is a Principal Lecturer in Marketing and Course Leader for MA/MSc Marketing Management at Westminster Business School. She worked for the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne prior to joining Westminster Business School.
She is a devoted educator who prepares young adults for their life-long learning and career development in a global environment. She specialises in marketing research, consumer insights, and research methods; she also teaches other marketing-related subjects. As a senior member of staff at WBS, in addition to module and course leadership, she has experience in different roles, as a WBS Mentor, Research Leader, Acting Director for the Centre of Research in Marketing, and Dissertation/Project Co-ordinator. She believes that theory informs practice and that applications and practice help to refine the theory. She has undertaken consultancy projects for the food industry and has supervised a large number of cross-industry live marketing and research projects.
Dr Donna Mai has a broad knowledge of Higher Education and extensive external examiner experience at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, including the examination of PhDs. She has a wide professional network and is a member of the Editorial Review Board for Marketing Education Review. She has established a strong professional relationship with the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) and brought CIM professional events to WBS. Before entering academia, she worked as a Sales Estimator, Brand Planner and Product Line Controller at Avon, Taiwan.
Research Interests: The effect of marketing communications on consumers and societies; consumer characteristics, perceptions and attitudinal research.
She received the Academy of Marketing Research Initiative Award in 2009. In the early stage of her academic career, she received the Best Paper Prize (1997) from the Academy of Marketing. Her paper was awarded the Highest Quality Rating by ANBAR Electronic Intelligence in 1998.
PhD in Marketing, University of Newcastle upon Tyne
PG Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, University of Newcastle upon Tyne
MA in International Marketing, University of Sunderland
Senior Fellow of Higher Education Academy
Member of the Association for Consumer Research
Member of the Academy of Marketing
Member of the Academy of Marketing Science
2015 - Present External Examiner for PG Fashion Marketing and Management degrees at Nottingham Trent University
2018 - Present Member of the Student Experience Committee, University of Westminster
2010 - Present Best Paper Prize Judge for Marketing Education Review
2009 Research Initiative Award, Academy of Marketing
2009-2010 Research Leader in Marketing, Westminster Business School
2008 - 2009: Acting Director for Centre for Research in Marketing, Westminster Business School
2003 - Present: Member of Editorial Review Board, Marketing Education Review
2009 - Present: Member of Editorial Review Board, Asian Journal of Business Research
2002 - Present: Member of Editorial Board, Journal of Doing Business Across Borders
2009: Research Grant Assessor for Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
2005 - 2009: External Examiner for Leeds University Business School for Marketing subjects and dissertations
2009 - 2012: External Examiner for Liverpool Hope University, Marketing pathway
2012, 2018 and 2019: PhD External Examiner for Newcastle University Business School
Donna's research interests are in the area of personality and psychological influences on consumers' choices and consumptions and the effect of marketing communications on consumers and societies.