Neha Dubey

My path into research hasn’t been a linear one, but I think that’s what has shaped the way I approach my work today. I started my career as an English language teacher before moving into curriculum development and, later, curriculum management. Much of that work was about understanding how information can be structured and communicated in ways that people can genuinely understand, engage with and remember. It was also where my interest in language grew beyond language itself. I became interested in how it shapes understanding, influences decisions and affects the way people respond to information.

That interest eventually brought me back to academia. I completed an MSc in International Marketing Management at the University of Leeds, where I was awarded the Chartered Institute of Marketing Prize for graduating top of my cohort. I then received a GBS PhD Scholarship to continue into doctoral research on AI in marketing.

For my PhD, I partnered with a UK company to explore how AI is actually understood and used within a real organisational setting. Using ethnography, I spent time embedded within the organisation, looking closely at how people engage with AI and how AI-driven marketing decisions are made in practice. This is the part of my research I find particularly valuable. Data can tell us a great deal about what is happening, but I’m equally interested in understanding why it happens. Ethnography allows me to get closer to the people, conversations and everyday practices behind those decisions.

My research brings together different parts of my background: language and communication, marketing strategy, and an understanding of organisations and the people within them. At the centre of it is a simple question that continues to shape my work: how can organisations use AI in ways that make sense for their people, their customers and their strategy, rather than allowing the technology itself to dictate what they do