Biography
Sarah Browne is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Trinity Business School. Sarah completed her Ph.D. at the Dublin Institute of Technology, College of Business. Her research interests center on critical perspectives in marketing challenging problematic hyperconsumption, and exploring the role of (macro social) marketing in transitioning to a post-growth society. Sarah's current research projects explore the commercial determinants of health, specifically critical food marketing and lobbying by the food industry and its impact on public health and policy. Other research and teaching interests are in the area of social marketing; how the principles of commercial marketing can be applied in both downstream (individual behavior) interventions for societal good and upstream advocacy and interventions for policy change. Her work has been published in Globalisation and Health, Social Science and Medicine, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, Journal of Marketing Management, Ethics, Medicine and Public Health, Journal of Business Strategy, and Irish Marketing Review. Her co-authored conference papers have been awarded Best Literature Review, Best in Track and Most Innovative paper, at Academy of Marketing conferences in recent years. She has also co-written several news articles and been interviewed by national and international media outlets (including The Irish Times, The Irish Examiner, Journal.ie, RTE Drivetime and CNN) on subjects ranging from critical food marketing, conspicuous consumption, advertising standards and rulings, and consumer behaviour during Covid-19.
Publications and Further Research Outputs
Peer-Reviewed Publications
O Connell- Grennell, F. and Browne, S., Decolonising the political imaginary- A critical discourse analysis on the ideological narratives of economic growth, 18th Conference of the International Society for Ecological Economics and 11th International Degrowth Conference Building socially just postgrowth futures - linking theory and action, Oslo, Norway, 24-27 June 2025, 2025
Campbell, N., Browne, S, Claudy, M., Reilly, K., Finucane, F.M.,, Food industry degrowth as a public health strategy: the case of ultra processed baked goods, Globalization and Health, 22, 2025, p10-
Norah CampbelNorah Campbell, Sarah Browne, Marius Claudy, Kathryn Reilly, Francis M. Finucane, Ultra-Processed Food: The Tragedy of the Biological Commons, International Journal of Health Policy and Management, 2023
M. Steele, M. Mialon, S. Browne, N. Campbell, F. Finucane, Obesity, public health ethics and the nanny state, Ethics, Medicine and Public Health, 19, 2021, phttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeme
Caulfield, B., Browne, S., Mullin, M., Bowman, S., & Kelly, C., Re-open our city and campus post-Covid: A case study of Trinity college Dublin, the University of Dublin, Case Studies on Transport Policy, 9, (2), 2021, p616 - 625
Campbell N., Browne S., Claudy M., Mialon M., Hercberg S., Silva F. & Finucane F., The Gift of Data: Industry-Led Food Reformulation and the Obesity Crisis in Europe, Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 2021
Campbell N., Mialon M., Reilly K., Browne S. & Finucane F., How are frames generated? Insights from the industry lobby against the sugar tax in Ireland, Social Science and Medicine, 264, 2020, p113215-
Fiona Grouse, Sarah Browne, Norah Campbell, The efficacy of voluntary codes of practice in relation to the advertising and marketing high fat, salt and sugar foods to children, World Social Marketing Conference, Edinburgh, Scotland, 4 June 2019, 2019
Norah Campbell, Gary Sinclair and Sarah Browne, Preparing for a world without markets: legitimising strategies of preppers, Journal of Marketing Management, 2019
Sarah Browne, Pamela Sharkey Scott, Vincent Mangematin, Patrick Gibbons, Shaking up business models with creative strategies: when tried and true stops working, Journal of Business Strategy, 2018
Sinclair, G., Campbell, N. and Browne, S., "Bunker Down: Using game-based simulations to investigate consumer-object attachment in catastrophic risk settings", Consumer Culture Theory Conference 2018, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark, 28th June 2018, 2018
Campbell, N. Sinclair, G., and Browne, S., "Apocalyptic objects: The Bug-out Bag as an Emblematic Object of Extreme Preparation" , Academy of Marketing Conference 2018, University of Stirling, Scotland, July 2018, 2018
Browne, S. Sharkey-Scott, P. Mangematin, V , "Commotion, conflict and chaos: How top managers allocate their attention to get strategy done", European Group for Organizational Studies, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark, July 2017, 2017
Sarah Browne, Pamela Sharkey Scoot, Vincent Mangematin, From Strategy Making to Strategy Shaping: Middle Managers' Divergent and Convergent Activities in Shaping Strategy, Academy of Management Proceedings, Academy of Management , Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Aug 7 2015, 1, 2015
Browne, S. Sharkey-Scott, P. Mangematin, V , Ownership for Openness in Strategy Implementation., European Group for Organizational Studies, The American College of Greece, Athens, July 2015, 2015
Browne, S., Sharkey-Scott, P., Mangematin, V., Lawlor, K. and Cuddihy, L., Adapting a book to make a film: how strategy is adapted through professional practices of marketing middle managers, Journal of Marketing Management, 30, (9-10), 2014, p949 - 973
Browne, S. and Cuddihy, L., Questioning the Currency of Marketing Planning Today, Irish Marketing Review, 21, (1 & 2), 2011, p49 - 57
Fodhla O Connell-Grennell; Sarah Browne, REIMAGINING A NEW ROLE FOR MARKETING: A CRITCIAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS ON ECONOMIC GROWTH AND PROSPERITY, Macromarketing conference 2025- Questioning markets and marketing: Advancing Macromarketing from multiple worldviews, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, June 22nd to 25th
Non-Peer-Reviewed Publications
Sarah Browne , Social marketing workshop, HSE Tobacco Free Ireland 2020, HSE, Dublin, January, 2019, HSE
Research Expertise
Description
My research seeks to critique the unsustainable nature of current corporate marketing as the driver or engince of growth, and to broadly explore the potential role and influence of marketing beyond commercial contexts, focusing on the interrelationship between marketing and society (for example, I am currently engaged in studies on marketing and public policy; critical food marketing and the obesogenic environment, and social marketing. My research interests lie in attempting to critically assess the history, assumptions and contestations of corporate marketing practice and its relationship to hyper-consumption from a variety of perspectives (commercial, consumer, civil society and environment) and ultimately, to challenge the dominant social paradigm- continuous growth and profit maximisation above all else. Currently, my research is focused on exploring how the role of marketing in the anthropocene must adapt, and become a vechicle for both a business and societal transition beyond growth, towards a post-growth society.Projects
- Title
- An Interdisciplinary Deliberative Forum: Building a Policy Framework for Cooperative Housing in Dublin
- Summary
- This project employs an innovative Deliberative Forum method to examine the potential of cooperative housing as a more democratic alternative to Dublin's housing crisis. The research design progresses through five key stages during a half-day event: it begins with a pre-deliberation survey to establish a baseline, provides participants with balanced briefing materials, facilitates small-group discussions, holds a plenary Q&A session with experts, and concludes with a post-deliberation survey to measure changes in knowledge and attitudes. Moderated deliberation allows for capturing how participants' opinions evolve from uninformed to considered judgments. This approach is fundamentally interdisciplinary, integrating social policy, sociology, and business studies to holistically analyse housing as a social good, a democratic endeavor, and an economically viable model.
- Funding Agency
- Trinity College Dublin, FAHSS
- Date From
- 01/01/2026
- Date To
- 31/12/2027
Recognition
Representations
Reviewer for European Journal of Marketing
External examiner for Munster Technological University for level 8 and 9 programmes for the academic year 2023-24
External Examiner for Level 9 Postgraduate Taught Programme, Technological University Dublin
Awards and Honours
Academy of Marketing Conference Award- Most Innovative Paper
Memberships
Member of the Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability (FEASTA)
Member of International Social Marketing Association (ISMA)