ProfessorAhmed Ferdous

Professor Ahmed Ferdous is an internationally recognized scholar known for his research on how business-led initiatives, particularly those centred on stakeholder engagement, service innovation, and responsible marketing, drive societal impact. By bridging marketing and public policy, Prof Ferdous offers a distinctive perspective on how businesses can act as catalysts for systems-level change across diverse markets. Based at Deakin Business School (Marketing Discipline), Deakin University, he has led high-impact projects across diverse sectors, influencing policy and practice. This includes a 2025 TAC funded project focusing on undertaking a review and impact of their protocols and 2018-19 Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)-funded project that focused on business process improvements and the transformation of the National Data Acquisition Centre. His expertise in policy-driven research also extends to the DFAT-funded Arts and Culture as a Strategic Approach to Address Extremism (2017), where he co-led the development of a practical frameworks to enhance social inclusion and resilience. Prof. Ferdous also co-led the Achieving a Sustainable Development Agenda project, delivering capacity-building programs for senior public officials to implement SDG-aligned policies (2022). He is currently contributing his expertise in stakeholder and community engagement as part of Deakin’s Transdisciplinary Team, led by the Faculty of Health, which secured joint funding of A$8 million from VicHealth and Deakin University to establish the Centre for the Commercial and Economic Determinants of Health (2025-2029). Additionally, A/Prof. Ferdous's policy brief submission emerging from his research, including one for a Central Bank, have influenced national financial inclusion policies, improving mobile financial services access for subsistence micro-suppliers and retailers.  Prof. Ferdous has applied strategic management tools in his research and executive training delivery, conducting systematic and desktop reviews, as well as mixed-method research involving stakeholder interviews and empirical analysis of intervention outcomes.

Prof. Ferdous's work has been published in a range of ABDC A*/A or FT50 ranked-journals such as International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, Industrial Marketing Management, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Affairs, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Service Theory and Practice. Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, Marketing Intelligence and Planning, Journal of Marketing Management and Journal of Strategic Marketing. He has also published in non-business journals such as Transfusion, Australian Journal of General Practices, PLOS One and Journal of International Migration and Integration. He has been invited to serve in the inaugural editorial review board (ERB) of Journal of Social Impact in Business Research and Journal of Subsistence Marketplace. Prof. Ferdous is also an ERB member of Australasian Marketing Journal. He frequently serves as a reviewer for a range of A and A* ranked business journals.

As an educator, Prof. Ferdous served as the Director of Bachelor of Business course during 2018-2024. He has successfully chaired and taught a range of units in the marketing discipline and led the development of the capstone strategic marketing unit and Faculty of Business and Law Capstone Framework. Ahmed has been the recipient of the Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy (ANZMAC) 2021 Distinguished Marketing Educator of the Year. He also received the 2021 Deakin University VC Award for Teaching and Learning. In 2025, Prof. Ferdous led a teaching team that won the Deakin Faculty of Business and Law Teaching Award for integrating an AI-Based assessment task in the capstone marketing unit. Previously in 2023, Prof. Ferdous received the ‘Sustainability’ award by Deakin’s Faculty of Business and Law for embedding UN SDGs in the Bachelor of Business and has been recognized for his sustained engagement and contribution to Deakin Faculty of Business and Law at the Geelong Waterfront Campus as a senior DBS academic. Professor Ferdous also serve as an appointed Professorial Fellow (honorary) and Adviser to the Vice-Chancellor for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at North South University (NSU), Bangladesh.