Lukas Parker

Associate Professor Lukas Parker

Associate Professor

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Lukas Parker profile photo

Contact details

DSC | School of Media and Communication


Communication Collaboratory (Co-Lab)

Fight Food Waste Cooperative Research Centre

Social Change Enabling Capability Platform

Consumer Wellbeing Research Group


Email: lukas.parker@rmit.edu.au


Phone: +61 3 9925 5007


Campus: Melbourne City


Programs

More information

Associate Professor Lukas Parker is a leading researcher and educator in social marketing and advertising and communicating health. He co-leads the Communication Collaboratory.

Overview

Associate Professor Lukas Parker is a leading social marketing and advertising scholar whose research sits at the nexus of behaviour change, communicating health and digital advertising. Leading teams of researchers, his research addresses pressing social problems related to health and sustainability. He has over fifty peer-reviewed publications including influential co-authored books Social Marketing and Advertising in the Age of Social Media (2020) and Social Marketing and Behaviour Change: Models, theory and applications (2014) which guide social marketing practitioners and scholars.

Associate Professor Parker’s highly applied research has informed and assessed social and behaviour change communication campaigns and government policy. His recent government and industry partners include VicHealth, Football Victoria, Sustainability Victoria, Woolworths and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

Associate Professor Parker is a highly accomplished educator with extensive international experience over two decades, in Australia, South Korea and Vietnam. He currently teaches into the Master of Advertising and Bachelor of Communication (Advertising) degree programs. His teaching intersects with his research and is focused on social change and engaging with industry, government and community. An example of this is his popular course, Wicked Problems: Innovative Solutions challenges multidisciplinary teams of undergraduate and masters students in an intensive series of workshops tackling complex wicked problems that do not have clearly identifiable solutions. It employs a design thinking process where students consider problems through engaging in co-creation with those most connected to the problem (target audience, experts in the field, stakeholders, organisations) to challenge assumptions and to create positive, participant focused solutions.

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Industry experience

Associate Professor Parker is on the management committee of the Australian Association of Social Marketing (AASM) and a member of the Australia-New Zealand Marketing Academy (ANZMAC) and the International Social Marketing Association (ISMA).

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Research

Associate Professor Lukas Parker’s research interests are social and government marketing and especially the influence of marketing communication and advertising on behaviour. His research is published extensively in peer reviewed journals and books in the fields of advertising, social marketing and behaviour change. His current research is focused on communicating health and pro-environmental behaviours. His communication research addresses pressing social problems including promoting healthy masculinities, healthy eating, road safety and waste reduction. He has collaborated with AIP Foundation (Vietnam), Institute of Public Health (Vietnam) and the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (USA). His research teams undertake research for Department of Families, Fairness and Housing, VicHealth, Pacific Environments, Australian Conservation Foundation, Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the Victorian Independent Broad-based Anticorruption Commission and the University of the Third Age (U3A).

Research keywords

Digital, Digital Advertising, Social Marketing, Health Communication, Behaviour Change, Social Media, Social Advertising, Sustainability, Sustainable Behaviour, Consumer Behaviour, Gamification

Research output summary

100+

Publications

$1 Million

Projects

6

Awards

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Supervisor interest areas

Associate Professor Parker co-leads the Communication Collaboratory. He supervises PhD projects focused on:

  • Communicating Health
  • Social Communication including Advertising
  • Sustainability and the environment
  • Social media (advocacy, healthy lifestyles, marketing)
  • Games and gamification in health
  • Industry partnered research

He supervises PhD projects involving qualitative and quantitative techniques, in Traditional Thesis, PhD with publication and PhD by Project modes.

Supervisor projects

Current

  • Phan Nhat Tram: Mindfulness, Sustainable Consumption, and Well-Being
  • Bonnie Stevens: Experiential Audience Engagement through a Communities of Practice-based Approach to Publishing
  • David Micallef: Adapting lifestyles for health: young people and their lived experiences.
  • Jon Hewitt: Navigating the social and the commercial: Marketing fashion based Social Enterprise in Southeast Asia.
  • Katia Ostapets: Promoting health in young adults by harnessing the power of health and wellbeing influencers. Estimated
  • Marcelo Toledo Cardenas: Participatory Guarantee Systems: Investigating how communities in tourist destinations organize sustainable and equitable hospitality services
  • Shatha Fahad Alamer: Consumers Attitudes and Purchase Intentions in Regard to Organic Food as Ugly Food

 

Recent

Feature publications

Improving the health of emerging adult gamers – a scoping review of influences

Nutrients, 14, 2226

Micallef, D., Parker, L., Brennan, L., Schivinski, B., & Jackson, M. (2022).

The search for scientific meaning in mindfulness research: insights from a scoping review

PLoS ONE, 17(5), e0264924

Phan-Le, N. T., Brennan, L. & Parker, L. (2022).

The Routledge Companion to Marketing and Society

Abingdon, UK: Routledge

Kubacki, K., Parker, L., Domegan, C., & Brennan, L. (2022).

Key publications by year

  • Cover, R., Parker, L., Young, C. & Ostapets, K. (2023). Entertaining information: Third-party influencers’ role in COVID-safety health communication, Media International Australia, First Published Online, 1-15.
  • Brennan, L., Francis, C., Jenkins, E. L., Schivinski, B., Jackson, M., Florence, E., Parker, L., Langley, S., Lockrey, S., Verghese, K., Phan-Le, N. T., Hill, A. and Ryder, M. (2023). Consumer perceptions of food packaging in its role in fighting food waste, Sustainability, 15(3), 1917,
  • Donnar, G., Hewitt, J., Finn, F., Parker, L., Brennan, L., & Dingeldei, J. (2023). “What could masculinity be?”: Using participatory co-design to define and support healthier masculinities. In G. Hastings & C. Domegan (Eds.), Social Marketing: Principles and Practice for Delivering Global Change, (pp. 209-214). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
  • Brennan, L., Parker, L., Schivinski, B., Jackson, M., Pochun, T., Florence, E., Langley, S., Hill, A., Ryder, M., Lockrey, S., Verghese, K., Francis, C., Sherman, A., Alessi, N., Phan-Le, N. T., & Chorazy, E. (2023). Consumer perceptions of the role of packaging in reducing food waste: Final Project Report. Fight Food Waste Cooperative Research Centre, Adelaide.

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Feature projects

National Date Labelling and Storage Advice – Phase 1

Fight Food Waste Cooperative Research Centre

Parker, L., Schivinski, B., Brennan, L., & Lockrey, S.

2023-2024

Game Ready: Exploring Food Choices and Consumption Practices in the Context of Community Sport

VicHealth

Westberg, K., Stavros, C., Parker, L. Druce, A., Martin, D., Reid, M., & Fouvy, D.

2019 - 2023

Social Media Influencers and Health Communication to CALD Communities

Department of Families, Fairness and Housing, Victoria

Cover, R. & Parker, L.

2021

Key projects by year

  • National Date Labelling and Storage Advice – Phase 1
    Parker, L., Schivinski, B., Brennan, L., & Lockrey, S.
    Fight Food Waste Cooperative Research Centre (2023-2024)
    Partners: NSW Environment Protection Authority, Green Industries SA, Sustainability Victoria & Department of Environment and Science (Queensland)

  • Healthier Masculinities
    Parker, L., Brennan, L., Donnar, G., & Finn, F.
    Safer Communities and Respect RMIT (2021-2022)
  • Social Media Influencers and Health Communication to CALD Communities
    Cover, R. & Parker, L.
    Department of Families, Fairness and Housing, Victoria (2021)

  • Game Ready: Exploring Food Choices and Consumption Practices in the Context of Community Sport
    Westberg, K., Stavros, C., Parker, L. Druce, A., Martin, D., Reid, M., & Fouvy, D.
    VicHealth (2019-2023)
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Awards

Lukas Parker award photo

Dean’s Award for Indigenous Engagement

In recognition of an individual who supports Indigenous Engagement, promoting Indigenous knowledge, supporting the Reconciliation Action Plan and ethical Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Engagement.

Award date: 2019 and 2020

Recipients: Lukas Parker


Dean’s Award for Integrated Scholarship/Praxis

In recognition of Fighting Food Waste in Retail Settings project in the Wicked Problems course, which linked scholarship with teaching.

Award date: 2022

Recipients: Lukas Parker

Dean’s Award: The Ed Montano Award for Industry Engagement

In recognition of an individual or team who has developed deep and rich industry engagements/partnerships with community, the arts, business, industry, cultural organisations or government.

Award date: 2018

Recipients: Lukas Parker

Emerald Literati Network Award for Excellence – Outstanding paper

Award date: 2016

Recipients: Lukas Parker

Key awards by year

  • Dean’s Award for Integrated Scholarship/Praxis (2022)
    In recognition of Fighting Food Waste in Retail Settings project in the Wicked Problems course, which linked scholarship with teaching.

  • Dean’s Award for Integrated Scholarship/Praxis (2021)
    In recognition of the Healthy Masculinities campaign co-design with partner, Safer Communities, in the Advertising Industry Practice course which linked scholarship with teaching.

  • Dean’s Award for Indigenous Engagement (2020)
    In recognition of an individual who supports Indigenous Engagement, promoting Indigenous knowledge, supporting the Reconciliation Action Plan and ethical Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Engagement.

  • Dean’s Award for Indigenous Engagement (2019)
    In recognition of an individual who played a role in embedding Indigenous Engagement into the life of the School, promoting Indigenous knowledge, supporting the Reconciliation Action Plan and ethical Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander Research.

  • Dean’s Award: The Ed Montano Award for Industry Engagement (2018) The Advertising Team
    In recognition of an individual or team who has developed deep and rich industry engagements/partnerships with community, the arts, business, industry, cultural organisations or government.
  • Teaching commendations (2018)

  • Teaching commendations (2017)

  • Emerald Literati Network Award for Excellence – Outstanding paper (2016)
  • Teaching commendations (2016)
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Grants

  • National Date Labelling and Storage Advice – Phase 1
    Fight Food Waste Cooperative Research Centre
    Parker, L., Schivinski, B., Brennan, L., & Lockrey, S. (2023-2024)
  • Game Ready: Exploring Food Choices and Consumption Practices in the Context of Community Sport
    VicHealth
    Westberg, K., Stavros, C., Parker, L. Druce, A., Martin, D., Reid, M., & Fouvy, D. (2019-2023)
  • Healthier Masculinities
    Respect RMIT and Safer Community, RMIT University
    Parker, L., Brennan, L., Donnar, G. and Finn, F. (2021-2022)
  • Consumer Perceptions of the Role of Packaging in Reducing Food Waste
    Fight Food Waste Cooperative Research Centre
    Verghese, K., Lockrey, S., Brennan, L., & Parker, L. (2019-2022)
  • Evaluation of CALD Youth Content Campaign grant program and Trusted Messenger program.
    Department of Families, Fairness and Housing
    Cover, R. & Parker, L. (2021)
  • Literature review on the impact of marketing by banks to students participating in Australian school banking programs.
    Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)
    Parker, L., Brennan, L., Jackson, M,, & Robinson, J. (2019)
  • Research to Evaluate Advocacy Messaging about the Climate Change Election
    Australian Conservation Foundation
    Robinson, J., Chorazy, E., Brennan, L., Parker, L., & Sison, M. (2019)
  • Building Vietnam’s Zero Waste Movement Through Coastal Strongholds
    Pacific Environment and Resource Center
    Nguyen, N., Phung, P., Nguyen, G., & Parker, L. (2019)
  • Research into Best Practice Approach for Community Education Campaign
    Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC)
    Parker, L., Brennan, L., Robinson, J., & Westberg, K. (2018)
  • Activity Report Summary & Evaluation.
    U3A Network Victoria
    Brennan, L., Matilainen, S., & Parker, L. (2018)
  • Endeavour Research Fellowship: Road Safety in Vietnam with Asia Injury Prevention Foundation (AIP Foundation)
    Department of Education and Training
    Parker, L. (2016-2017)
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Acknowledgement of Country

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Luwaytini' by Mark Cleaver, Palawa.

aboriginal flag
torres strait flag

Acknowledgement of Country

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business.