Dr. Padmali Rodrigo is an Associate Professor in Marketing. Padmali is a Fellow in HEA and a teaching specialist (APA) awarded by the Institute for Apprenticeship and Technical Education. 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 & learning, and research mentor. 

Padmali served as Head of Postgraduate Education for Newcastle Business School (2024-2025). During her term as a senior lecturer, she acted as the Program leader for BA, Marketing, BA Marketing Management (top-up), BA Business with Law & BA Marketing Management and business (top-up) programmes. She has extensive experience in teaching, programme management, validation, and supervision of doctoral, postgraduate, and undergraduate students. She also contributes to capacity building and staff development initiatives and is an emerging expert in Knowledge Exchange activities in business schools.

Padmali is a Member of the Northumbria University Strategy Advisory Group and plays an active role in shaping the education, research, and knowledge exchange priorities of Northumbria. She currently serves as an external examiner for Huddersfield University. Before joining Northumbria, she was a post-doctoral research fellow in marketing and sales (2015-2020) at the University of Portsmouth, UK. Padmali is an alumna of Northumbria University and 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.

Padmali's research and knowledge-sharing activities focus mainly on consumer decision-making, marginalised actors, disability inclusion in HEIs and knowledge exchange in business schools. Padmali has secured and collaborated on several internal and externally funded research projects. She has secured external grants from the Chartered Association of Business Schools (CABS) as a Principal Investigator, British Academy (BA); British Academy of Management (BAM), and Marketing Trust (As a co-Investigator).   

She is a member of the editorial advisory board for the Consumer Behavior in Tourism and Hospitality Journal, and she is an editorial review board member for the International Journal of Consumer Studies. She also acts as an active reviewer in many academic journals in the marketing, tourism, and Information Systems 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. In recognition of her achievements,

Padmali was also featured as one of the 15 global women leading global innovation by KEVRI. Her current research focuses on both Marketing and Knowledge Exchange. In particular, she is interested in consumption matters related to sustainability, hedonic products and services, and marginalised consumers from diverse backgrounds. Her pedagogical research focuses on doctoral students' experiences in HEIs and how knowledge exchange activities are perceived and conducted in higher education institutions.  She has published her work in journals such as Information Systems Frontiers (ABS-3), Journal of Sustainable Tourism (ABS-3), Personality & Individual Differences (ABS-3), and Psychology & Marketing (ABS-3).

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 sustainable consumer behavior, religious travel and tourism, social media influencers, fake news, and misinformation.

My primary research interests are currently focused on areas such as Country of Origin effects, religious travel and tourism, visitor experience, misinformation and disinformation in social media, sustainable consumption, and influencer marketing. I am competent in both qualitative and quantitative research methods.