Dr Kimberley Hardcastle

Assistant Professor

School: Newcastle Business School

Kimberley is an Assistant Professor in Business & Marketing at Newcastle Business School (AACSB), Northumbria University. Prior to entering academia, she has worked in various marketing and business management roles in the F & B service sector. She has a PhD in Marketing and is a researcher, writer, speaker & advisor in Responsible Artificial Intelligence, AI Education, Algorithms & Platforms, Branding and Consumer Habits. In particular, she is keen to understand the societal impacts of emerging technologies (AI). Kimberley is a co-lead in Education at Northumbria's Centre for Responsible AI. Her work has been published at several international conferences and in peer reviewed journals. Whilst working at the Newcastle Business School (AACSB), Kimberley has directly supported and trained many SMEs through European Regional Development Funding. As part of her leadership roles, Kimberley is part of the Programme team for BA (Hons) Business and Marketing and leads on the Branding module on the MSc Marketing Programme. Kimberley is an external examiner at Bournemouth University for Programmes MSc Marketing Management & MSc Marketing and User Experience. She is also a reviewer for the Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, Journal of Consumer Behaviour, Journal of Marketing Management and the Academy of Marketing Science. Kimberley has been awarded Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy and has been a nominated finalist for the Student Led Teaching Awards numerous times. Kimberley is on the judging panel for the prestigious Effie Awards UK & The Prolific North Marketing Awards. Her current projects include The Responsible Development of AI and the societal implications of this in the North East. Kimberley is working with North East partners to understand how we can adopt a citizen well-being approach to safeguarding and upskilling the region to ensure the NE is not left behind with emerging technology. She initiated such discussions after organising and delivering the first 'The North East AI Safety Summit' October 2023, which aimed to articulate a regional voice on the opportunities & threats of AI, & the responsible development of AI for NE industries, businesses & individuals with the intention of informing policy and the first Global Summit. Kimberley's business and marketing expertise resonate beyond academia as she is also a contributor at the World Advertising Research Centre (WARC).

Campus Address

Room 235 City Campus East One
Northumbria University
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 8ST

Email Kimberley

@kimh2014

Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

Research Interests: Responsible Artificial Intelligence, AI Education, Algorithms/Platforms, Societal Impacts of Emerging Technology, Branding, Consumer Habits.

Publications

Book:

Shams, S. R., Brown, D. M., & Hardcastle, K. (2025). Sustainable Marketing: Strategic Marketing for People, Planet and Profit. Springer Nature.

Conference Papers:

Hardcastle, K, (2025). Exploring the Intersection of Responsible AI, Education and Marketing. Academy of Marketing Conference, Cork, 2025.

Hardcastle, K., Vorster, L., & Brown, D., (2024) How is AI Shaping Brand Engagement & Autonomy in the Customer Decision Making Process? Academy of Marketing Conference, Cardiff, 2024.

Hardcastle, K., & Vorster, L., (2023) ‘Is AI Killing Branding? Understanding Consumers Perceptions Of AI Influence On Brand Decision Making’. Academy of Marketing Science 48^th Annual Conference. New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.

Hardcastle, K, (2018) ‘How much does the university sport brand impact students journey and identity construction in English higher education?’ 26th European Association of Sport Management Conference. Malmo, Sweden. 5th-8th of September 2018.

Hardcastle, K., Cook, P., Sutherland, M., (2016) ‘The co-production of interpretive communities within the English higher education context, as defined by sport consumers’. 24th European Association of Sport Management Conference. Warsaw, Poland.

Hardcastle, K., Sutherland, M., (2016) ‘Engaging the consumer: A Netnography of the student journey within the English HE sector’. 49th Academy of Marketing Conference. Northumbria University, Newcastle.

Journal Articles:

Hardcastle, K., Vorster., L & Brown. D (2025). Understanding customer responses to AI-driven personalised journeys: Impacts on the customer experience. Journal of Advertising. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2025.2460985

*Most read article published in the Journal of Advertising 2025

Hardcastle, K., Edirisingha, P., Cook, P., & Sutherland, M. (2025). The co-existence of brand value co-creation and co-destruction across the customer journey in a complex higher education brand. Journal of Business Research, 186, 114979. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2024.114979

Hardcastle, K., Edirisingha, P., & Cook, P. (2022). Identifying sources of noise within the networked interplay of marketing messages in social media communication. International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJIMA.2024.137920

Hardcastle, K., Cook, P., & Sutherland, M. (2019). Improving Student Transition and Retention; a Netnographic Insight into Information Exchange and Conversation Topics for Pre-arrival Students. Journal of Perspectives in Applied Academic Practice, 7(1), 47-56.

Industry Publications:

Hardcastle., K How generative AI is really changing education - by outsourcing the production of knowledge to big tech. The Conversation, September 2025: https://theconversation.com/how-generative-ai-is-really-changing-education-by-outsourcing-the-production-of-knowledge-to-big-tech-263160

Hardcastle., K Mastering artificial intelligence tool selection and implementation. World Advertising Research Centre, September 2024:

https://www.warc.com/content/paywall/article/warc-exclusive/mastering-artificial-intelligence-tool-selection-and-implementation/en-GB/157235?

Hardcastle., K, How Generative AI Is Changing The Game for Marketers & What Can They Do About It? World Advertising Research Centre, November 2023:

https://www.warc.com/content/article/bestprac/how-generative-ai-is-redefining-the-game-for-marketers-and-what-can-they-do-about-it/153504

Hardcastle., K, We're Talking About AI A Lot Right Now & It's Not A Moment Too Soon. The Conversation, August 2023:

https://theconversation.com/were-talking-about-ai-a-lot-right-now-and-its-not-a-moment-too-soon-211448

Podcasts:

Generative AI: Hype versus reality

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3woJkMIE618BPfZmDf4ZV5

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/generative-ai-hype-versus-reality/id1563243327?i=1000670759427

Committees Parliament UK - Written Evidence

https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/132897/pdf/

AI Minister backs North East as UK tech growth leader:

https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/25667639.digital-government-ai-minister-visits-newcastle-ne-tech/

Key Media Mentions

The Stack - https://www.thestack.technology/chatgpts-eu-voice-mode-ban-and-the-future-of-ai-regulation/

Metro - https://metro.co.uk/2024/10/05/meta-ai-training-notifications-mean-21715142/

BDaily - https://bdaily.co.uk/articles/2023/10/19/first-ai-safety-summit-for-the-north-east-to-be-hosted-at-northumbria-university

Business Insider - https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-is-handing-control-of-knowledge-to-big-tech-professor-2025-10

PhD Student Supervision

Patrick Gurser - Exploring the Influence of Product-Related Factors on Showrooming Intention in the Consumer Electronics Market. Completion December 2024.

Charlie Edge - Urban Greenspace Management: A Sustainable Marketing Framework - Ongoing.

Obaid Alshammari - The Impact of Culture and Digital Technologies on Online Luxury Purchase Intentions in Saudi Arabia - Ongoing.

Current Opportunity with Northumbria Centre for Responsible AI - PhD Studentship - Closing 23/01/26:

https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/breaking-down-barriers-investigating-ai-adoption-in-higher-education-through-the-lens-of-pedagogical-innovation-and-educational-equity-ref-idrt26-rai-hardcastle/?p192359

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
How generative AI is really changing education – by outsourcing the production of knowledge to big tech, Hardcastle, K. 29 Sep 2025
Sustainable Marketing: Strategic Marketing for People, Planet and Profit, Hardcastle, K., Brown, D., Shams, R. 26 Mar 2025
The Co-Existence of Brand Value Co-Creation and Co-Destruction Across the Customer Journey in a Complex Higher Education Brand, Hardcastle, K., Edirisingha, P., Cook, P., Sutherland, M. 1 Jan 2025, In: Journal of Business Research
Understanding Customer Responses to AI-Driven Personalized Journeys: Impacts on the Customer Experience, Hardcastle, K., Vorster, L., Brown, D. Mar 2025, In: Journal of Advertising
Identifying sources of noise within the networked interplay of marketing messages in social media communication, Hardcastle, K., Edirisingha, P., Cook, P. 2024, In: International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising
Mastering artificial intelligence tool selection and implementation, Hardcastle, K. 12 Sep 2024
How generative AI is redefining the game for marketers, and what can they do about it?: Marketing content must have human input, we are not at the stage (yet) where we should be totally reliant on Gen AI tools to produce content., Hardcastle, K. 22 Nov 2023
We’re talking about AI a lot right now – and it’s not a moment too soon, Hardcastle, K. 23 Aug 2023
Improving Student Transition and Retention; a Netnographic Insight into Information Exchange and Conversation Topics for Pre-arrival Students., Hardcastle, K., Cook, P., Sutherland, M. 21 Oct 2019, In: Journal of Perspectives in Applied Academic Practice