Meet the Committee

With a background in social marketing and behaviour change, I study the methods and strategies that facilitate the uptake of evidence-informed practice and research into regular use by practitioners and policymakers. I am driven to close the gap between what we know and what we do.

I take a collaborative approach, working with people to design, implement, and evaluate health services that provide people with support and skills to help them live a happy and healthy life. My approach to health and wellbeing puts people and their environment at the centre. I am passionate about translating innovative solutions into practice.

Behaviour change programs I have developed have directly engaged over 200, 000 participants resulting in improved health behaviours and health quality of life. These programs put context at the centre, highlighting the need for place-based solutions that consider the behavioural, social, commercial, and environmental determinants of health.

I mentor and sponsor early career researchers to enable them to achieve their career vision and research impact.

Inés Besada Paullier is a strategic communication expert with professional experience working with public and private organizations in the fields of health, education, and vulnerable youth. She is a lecturer in Social Marketing at the University of Montevideo, Uruguay, and holds a strategic communication position at the Health Technology Assessment Agency in Uruguay. Inés serves the Latin American Social Marketing Association (LAMSO) developing social marketing training and representing the organization in the co-development of the Social Marketing Statement of Ethics. She is the author of various chapters of the first publication in Spanish of the book Social Marketing for Public Health (2022), edited by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the Commission for Cardiovascular Health of Uruguay. She earned a bachelor’s Degree in Communication at the University of Montevideo and received a certification in Social Marketing at Emerson College, Boston.

Livingston A. White was born in Kingston, Jamaica.  He earned a Bachelor of Arts (First Class Honors) degree from the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona Campus, in 1997. At UWI, he studied at the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication (CARIMAC), where he read for his bachelor’s degree majoring in Mass Communication with a specialization in television production and a minor in Linguistics.  After graduating from UWI in 1997, he freelanced in television production and planned environmental awareness campaigns.  In 1999, he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study in the United States where he completed his Master’s degree in Communication Research and Theory at the College of Communication of Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida.  In 2001, he returned to Jamaica, where he worked as an assistant lecturer at CARIMAC, teaching undergraduate courses in Social Marketing, Communication Analysis and Planning, and Communication Research Methods.  During his time at CARIMAC, he conducted research and training in communication planning for, as well as consulted with, various regional Caribbean-based agencies including the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization, Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, and the Bernard van Leer Foundation’s Caribbean Child Support Initiative, focusing on issues ranging from the coverage of health in Caribbean media, advocacy communication for sustainable environmental management to early childhood development.  He returned to Tallahassee in August 2006 to complete his doctoral studies in mass communication focusing on health communication and statistical applications in communication research. After completing his PhD in August 2009, he resumed working at CARIMAC, where he continues to teach courses in communication research methodologies and social marketing.
Dr. White is a member of various professional and academic associations including the International Communication Association (ICA), Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) and the International Social Marketing Association (iSMA).

Luke is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Marketing for Change®, a social enterprise that works collaboratively to influence behaviours, improve lives and deliver positive social change.  He also recently established The Behaviour Change Collaborative, a non-profit organisation delivering programs to improve the mental health and wellbeing of individuals and communities.

A trans disciplinarian with extensive experience, over the past 20 years Luke has worked on behaviour change programs in Australia, Europe, South East-Asia and Africa. 

During five years at The National Social Marketing Centre, Luke delivered programs, training and advice to organisations including the World Health Organisation, the European Commission, Ogilvy, the Department for International Development (DFID UK), the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), and DH England.  He then led on the public sector spin-out of the NSMC to a social enterprise, and in 2012 co-founded The NSMC (CIC).

Recent work has included scoping strategies to reduce domestic violence against Aboriginal women and their children, strategic advice and community engagement work for the WA government’s Sustainable Health Review, and a new initiative to increase employment of people with disabilities in local government. 

Luke has also worked with local authorities to apply behavioural insights and theory to influence downstream behaviours on topics relating to timely payment of rates and infringements, pool safety, waste and recycling, animal welfare, and fire preparedness.

He is a Board Member of the Australian Association of Social Marketing and The Recovery Portal and also participates on several government and NGO advisory groups.  He’s an Adjunct Research Fellow at both Curtin University (Public Health), and Griffith University (Social Marketing).

Luke’s enjoys applying his knowledge of various behaviour change techniques to a broad-range of policy areas. He’s advised and delivered programs in a large number of policy domains including public health, alcohol and other drugs, public transport, disability services, sport and recreation.

Lynda Bardfield crossed over from a career in multinational marketing as a Senior Vice President, Creative Director into the world of social marketing in the late eighties. Since then, she has spent the past three decades committed to applying marketing principles and innovation to social and behavior change.

Lynda’s career has spanned the globe, designing social marketing interventions in the U.S. and behavior change initiatives in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Lynda’s unique global perspective and years of experience translating audience insights into award-winning campaigns makes her a valuable asset to SMANA’s Board of Directors. Her experience teaching social marketing at Tufts University School of Medicine, her contribution to the editorial board of the Social Marketing Quarterly, and her popular plenary presentations at the USF Social Marketing Conference, all translate into an immediate benefit for the WSMC Planning Committee.

Nathaly Aya Pastrana,MSc, PhD, is a co-Founder of the Latin American Social Marketing Association (LAMSO), and founder of IMEK Research Center in Marketing & Development, an independent Colombian NGO addressing issues related to health, education and gender in the Global South using marketing and communication perspectives. She is a former member of the Communication Committee of the International Social Marketing Association (iSMA). Nathaly has contributed to initiatives addressing inclusive education and gender equality in Colombia, and noncommunicable and neglected tropical diseases in Mozambique, Nepal, and Peru. Her experience across sectors includes collaborations with the private sector, academe, and not-for-profit organizations. Nathaly obtained a master degree in marketing and a PhD in Communication Sciences from Università della Svizzera italiana in Switzerland, a certificate in public health from the Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), and a bachelor degree in Business Administration with a focus on marketing from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana Cali.

Jeff French is a recognised global leader in the application of behaviour change and social marketing. Jeff has extensive experience of developing leading and evaluating behaviour change projects, social marketing programmes and the development of communication strategies at international, national, regional and local level.

With over 30 years experience at the interface between government, public, private and NGO sectors Jeff has a broad practical and theoretical understanding of national and international health and social development issues.

Jeff and has published over 70 chapters, articles and books in the fields of behaviour change, social marketing, community development, health promotion and communications. Jeff is a visiting professor at Brunel University and Brighton University and a Fellow at Kings College University London and teaches at four other Universities in the UK.

Jeff was the Director of Communication and Policy at the Health Development Agency for five years from 2000 – 2005. In March 2005 From July 2006 through to July 2009 Jeff set up and managed the National Social Marketing Centre for England. In August 2009 Jeff became the Chief Executive of Strategic Social Marketing Ltd.

Strategic Social Marketing works with clients from all over the world in the private, NGO and public sector on the development and evaluation of social behaviour change programmes. Strategic Social Marketing also provides consultancy services to some of the world’s biggest corporate communications and research companies.

Jeff continues to act as the principle adviser to the National Social Marketing Centre and the Department of Health behaviour Change and Social Marketing policy team. Jeff also acts as an advisor to a number of national policy committees, the EUCDC Knowledge and Resource Centre in Health Communication project, and is a member of the organising committee of the Global Social Marketer’s network. Jeff is a member of the editorial Boards of the International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing and the Journal of Social Marketing.

Jeff is Conference Chair of the World Social Marketing Conference. His new book ‘Social Marketing and Public Health Theory and Practice’, published by Oxford University Press is now available. Jeff is also the author of the NSMC’s new guide to procuring and managing the delivery of social marketing service.

Sameer is NOT a social media marketing academic. Over two decades, in the area of ‘marketing for a better world,’ Sameer has taught, widely published in academic journals, books, and conference proceedings, reviewed, and trained and consulted with government and non-profit organizations in India, Canada, Singapore, Australia, and the U.S. He is the Editor of Social Marketing Quarterly.

Sameer has raised over two million dollars and published studies testing the effectiveness of behaviour change initiatives using social marketing frameworks with particular emphasis on consumer-insights approach in a variety of contexts, including financial services to disadvantaged women, alcohol abstinence during pregnancy, safe sexual practices, promotion of alternative rides, responsible drinking, water rights, and physical activity. His book, co-authored with Nancy Lee, Social Marketing in India, has been well-received by the Indian academic and practitioner social marketing sector.

https://experts.griffith.edu.au/7352-sameer-deshpande