Remembering Isabelle Szmigin, Professor Emerita of Marketing at Birmingham Business School
We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Isabelle Szmigin, Professor Emerita of Marketing at Birmingham Business School.
Professor Isabelle Szmigin
Isabelle earned a PhD at the University of Birmingham and joined the faculty in 1996, becoming a Professor of Marketing in 2007, before being promoted to Head of the Department of Marketing and Deputy Dean of the Business School. Her academic achievements included more than 90 research papers, the supervision of 15 successful PhDs, and co-authoring a well-regarded textbook, Consumer Behaviour, a fourth edition of which will be published later this year.
Professor Szmigin championed the work of Birmingham Business School through her research, advisory work and high-profile media presence over many years. Her work was published in a wide range of academic journals including The European Journal of Marketing, and the Journal of Business Research. She was also on the editorial advisory board of the International Marketing Review, and the editorial board of the European Journal of Marketing and the Journal of Advertising Research.
Isabelle was Principal Investigator on a European Foundation for Alcohol Research examining lifestyle, social media and alcohol consumption, and had recently become Chair of the Board of Trustees for Alcohol Change UK, the charity which started Dry January.
Her work led her to be a widely recognised academic in the media, with regular appearances on programmes including Newsnight, BBC Breakfast, BBC News and Radio 4’s Today programme. She has also appeared on the BBC’s Rip Off Britain and Watchdog, and contributed articles to the Guardian.
Professor Szmigin will be remembered as a hugely supportive colleague to academics and staff, with a fine-tuned understanding and concern for welfare. She was the complete professional in her academic leadership and will be greatly missed, especially by her colleagues in the Marketing Department, but also across the wider School and University.
From Head of the Marketing Faculty to Deputy Dean, Isabelle remained collegiate throughout. Her door was always open to offer support, wisdom, advice and insight. If anyone was teetering on a cliff edge of impossible work issues, just a few sage words from Isabelle and that empathetic, knowing smile, would have a remarkable rebalancing effect. Advice, always of such irrefutable quality, that although it was not always what you wanted to hear, you would simply accept, for its clarity, sageness and honesty. Isabelle is greatly missed by all her colleagues. Through her research and influence, she will always remain a part of the Business School.
Outside of academia, Isabelle led a rich life with her family in Worcestershire and found beauty in life’s simplest joys – morning birdsong, blackberry-picking and her grandchildren.
She is survived by her husband Jan, her sons, Alexander and Nicholas, and four grandchildren, Maxwell, Lara, Georgina and Constance.
You can read a personal tribute from Isabelle’s husband Jan on the Guardian website.
Birmingham Business School is planning a Symposium to celebrate the work of Professor Szmigin, it will bring together her research, its impact and the work of her PhD students and co-authors.