People - Advisory Board

Dr. Etain Kidney

Head of School, School of Marketing and Entrepreneurship

Tel: +35312206386

As Head of the School of Marketing at TU Dublin, Dr. Etain Kidney leads strategic and academic development for a diverse portfolio of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, spanning Levels 6 to 10. She manages a team of over 70 academic and professional staff and supports a student body of more than 1,400. Her leadership encompasses quality assurance, curriculum innovation, research strategy, internationalisation, and extensive stakeholder engagement across academic, industry, and civic spheres.

With extensive experience in curriculum design and programme leadership, her teaching spans modules including Customer Insights, Consumer Behaviour, Digital Marketing, Marketing Practice, Brand Management, Enterprise and Entrepreneurship, and Business Practice for STEM. She teaches across BSc and MSc programmes and supervises research at Levels 8–10. Current PhD supervision includes topics such as philanthropy, non-profit marketing, trust and identity in branding, inclusive entrepreneurship, and responsible marketing practice.

Academic Leadership & Education

Etain holds a PhD in Marketing from TU Dublin (DIT, 2013) focused on Inclusive Entrepreneurship, as well as an MA in Higher Education (2017) on student engagement, and an MSc in Business & Entrepreneurship (2007) with research into Minority Entrepreneurship. She also holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Third Level Teaching & Learning (2014), a BA in English & Philosophy from UCD (2005), and qualifications in Analytics from the University of Texas, Austin and University of British Columbia.

Committed to lifelong learning and academic leadership, she has undertaken professional development in areas including inclusive leadership, climate literacy, project management, GDPR compliance, academic writing, and student wellbeing. A founding member of the Women Leaders in Higher Education group at TU Dublin, she is a dedicated mentor, championing equity, inclusion, and career advancement for colleagues across all roles and career stages.

Research

Her research focuses on the intersection of digital marketing, social impact, and inclusive business practice. Key interests include responsible management education, identity and entrepreneurship, para-social relationships, and marketing technology. She is widely published in peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes, and regularly presents at international conferences. Her current research agenda includes studies on transgender identity in business, para-social engagement on social media platforms, and not-for profit organisations.

Industry Engagement

Etain maintains strong connections with the non-profit and civic sectors. She is a Non-Executive Director of the Dublin Simon Community, where she also chairs the Marketing and Fundraising Committee, and a Trustee of Outhouse LGBTQ+ Centre, recently shortlisted for ‘Charity Board of the Year’ by Charities Institute Ireland in 2024. Additionally, she serves on the Commercial Committee of Hockey Ireland and collaborates with 2into3 on the Giving Ireland Report, helping to drive data-informed strategy and visibility in the Irish non-profit sector.

Professionally Affiliated

Marketing Institute of Ireland
Academy of Marketing
Marketing Society of Ireland
Etain serves as a reviewer for journals including EURAM
International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research
Gender, Work & Organisation
Journal of Homosexuality
Entrepreneurship & Regional Development

Selected Publications

Manzoor, A., Qureshi, M.A., Kidney, E., & Longo, L. (2024). A Review on Machine Learning Methods for Customer Churn Prediction and Recommendations for Business Practitioners. IEEE Access. https://doi.org/10.1109/ ACCESS.2024.3402092

Kidney, E., McAdam, M., & Cooney, T. (2024). Everyday Prejudices: An Intersectional Exploration of the Experiences by Lesbian and Gay Entrepreneurs. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research.

Mullan, A. & Kidney, E. (2020). Humanising the brand voice on social media: The case of government agencies and semi-state bodies. Journal of Digital & Social Media Marketing, 7(4), 344–354.

Kidney, E. (2021). The Challenges of Coming Out as a Gay Entrepreneur. In Cooney, T. (Ed.) The Palgrave Handbook of Minority Entrepreneurship. Palgrave Macmillan.

Sareen, S., Kidney, E., & Cooney, T. (2020). How Is Social Media Adopted by Entrepreneurial Teams? In: Schjoedt, L., Brännback, M., & Carsrud, A. (Eds) Understanding Social Media and Entrepreneurship. Springer.

Creevey, D., Kidney, E., & Mehta, G. (2019). From dreaming to believing: a review of consumer engagement behaviours with brands’ social media content across the holiday travel process. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 36(6), 679–691.