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 Projects

Living plastic free
2020 marks a year of living single-use plastic-free. After completing delivery of the Tackling Marine Pollution through Plastic Recycling Short Course in Indonesia, Sharyn was moved to play her part. Her household is finding ways to live single-use plastic-free.
Follow their journey on Facebook and Instagram:

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.

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 .

Increasing Snapper and Pearl Perch stocks in Queensland waterways
Over the next two years, we are conducting a project in partnership with Currie Communications. Our project aims to increase stocks of snapper and pearl perch. This project is funded by the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation.

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.

Blurred Minds
Blurred Minds is our longest-running program. Over the past 10 years, this program has been delivered to more than 4,500 Australians. 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 25,000 times.

Go Food
Go Food is our 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.

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.

Co-designing the Action Plan for Toowoomba and Bundaberg: A youth led approach
Led by youth and supported by the Department of Child Safety, Youth, and Women (DCSYW) and local partners, this work aims to build capacity delivering a community led action plan for Toowoomba and Bundaberg.

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.
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