Padmali joined Northumbria in 2020. She is an Assistant Professor (Senior Lecturer) in marketing and a Fellow in HEA and a teaching specialist (APA) awarded by Institute for Apprenticeship and Technical Education. Padmali's marketing career started in the year 2006 in Sri Lanka. She is a Chartered Marketer, a mentor, and a  member (MCIM) of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), American Academy of Advertising (AAA) and holds a professional diploma in marketing from the CIM. She also acts as a teaching and learning and research mentor. Prior to joining Northumbria, she was a post-doctoral research fellow in marketing and sales (2015-2020) at the University of Portsmouth UK. Padmali is an alumina of Northumbria University and She holds a Ph.D. in Marketing (2010-2014), MSc (distinction) (2009-2010), and a BA(Hons) with a First Class (2008-2009), all from Northumbria University U.K. As a Practice Academic, Padmali brings her professional expertise in marketing into teaching to deliver research-led, practice-informed experiential teaching and learning experience in a way that enhances student satisfaction.

She is an associate editor in Heliyon Journal and a member of the editorial advisory board for consumer behavior in tourism and hospitality journals and also acts as an active reviewer in many academic journals in marketing and tourism subject areas. She is also passionate about matters related to promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion within academia and marketing practices and serves as a member of the ad-hoc diversity and inclusion committee of the American Academy of Advertising (AAA), USA.

Her current research focuses on how knowledge exchange activities are perceived and conducted in higher education institutions. She also conducts research into digital mindfulness,  social media, mis and disinformation, social media influencers, and social change. Her pedagogical research focuses on the experience of doctoral students and student engagement using Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). She has published her work in journals such as Information Systems Frontiers (ABS-3) Journal of Sustainable Tourism (ABS-3), and Psychology & Marketing (ABS-3).

She also contributes to knowledge transfer partnerships and currently acts as the project lead for  advanced manufacturing forum survey and leads an exploratory research into knowledge exchange activities within UK business schools, funded by Chartered ABS (CABS).

Padmali is always keen and aspires to contribute to enhancing the doctoral student experience and she welcomes applications from potential doctoral students in areas such as country of origin effects, fake news, social media and- digital mindfulness, travel, tourism, and hospitality, with a specific emphasis into religious values, consumption values, and sustainability.

My current main research interests are in mis/disinformation in social media, sustainable consumption and influencer marketing. I am competent in both qualitative and quantitative research and utilise techniques such as structural equation modeling, mean-end-chain based laddering interviews in my research.