Ross is an interdisciplinary Social Science scholar employed at QUT Business School. He is also President of the Australian Association of Social Marketing (AASM). Ross is a social change activist. His work focuses on social issues and social change, through a critical, reflexive and multi-perspective lens. His discipline expertise lies in social marketing, consumer cultures, and critical marketing teaching and research. He works across various social change topic areas including energy efficiency, environmental sustainability, alcohol and alcohol marketing, gambling, tobacco control, mental health, and workplace bullying. He is also interested in critiques of neoliberalism and related social activism.
Ross uses interdisciplinary and mixed-method and multi-method approaches to his work and has extensive experience using methodologies including longitudinal quantitative surveys, systematic reviews and meta-analyses, focus groups, depth interviews, ethnography, content analysis, and cognitive neuroscience. He also has considerable experience in research, designing, implementing and evaluating behaviour and social change programmes. He has been a principal or named investigator on projects attracting over $6.9m in research funds in Australia, UK, Europe and India from funding bodies including the Australian Research Council (Discovery), Medical Research Council, Economic and Social Research Council, Commonwealth of Australia, and European Commission. He has acted an expert advisor to the Australian Government, the UK and Scottish Governments, the European Commission, WHO, NSW Health, Cancer Institute, and a range of other stakeholders on various topics relating to behaviour and social change.
Ross was formerly employed at the University of Wollongong Faculty of Social Sciences (2010-2014), the Institute for Social Marketing at The Open University Business School (ISM-Open) from 2009-2010, and prior to that the ISM at the University of Stirling (2005-2009). Ross is currently a Visiting Fellow at the Open University, Honorary Research Fellow at Coventry University, a Visiting Academic at London School of Economics and Political Science, and an Honorary Senior Fellow at the University of Wollongong Faculty of Social Sciences.
He has published over 70 academic journals, book chapters and conference papers including in outlets such as European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Business Research, Marketing Theory, Journal of Services Marketing, Journal of Macromarketing, Journal of Social Marketing, Energy Policy, and BMC Public Health. He has also written numerous client reports and regularly gives invited presentations. Ross co-authored a leading textbook on social marketing and social change: Jeff French and Ross Gordon (2015). Strategic Social Marketing. London: Sage. Ross is a keen player and follower of sports including playing football for Macquarie University, some tennis and cycling, loves travelling, enjoys current affairs, and is a big music fan and occasional techno DJ.