Role
Senior Lecturer in Marketing.
Career overview
Sahar is a Senior Lecturer and researcher in marketing. A pharmacist by background she holds an MSc in Biotechnology and Entrepreneurship and a PhD in Business and management from the University of Nottingham which focuses on consumer use of smart devices in the context of health, fitness and self-tracking. Sahar spent time in the pharmaceutical and medical device industry as a Product Manager, where she managed several social media campaigns and worked with organisations to launch both consumer (B2C), and medical-grade (B2B) products successfully in the MENA region. Her experience in industry has formed the basis of her teaching ethos which is centred around the power of industry-focused marketing education and the application of theoretical concepts, to real-life situations. Before joining NTU, Sahar held a full-time position at De Montfort University, after working part-time at the University of Nottingham and Birmingham City University while doing her PhD. During her time in higher education, she designed, led and taught several modules on undergraduate, MSc, and MBA courses which included Direct Marketing, Global Marketing, Digital Consumer Behaviour, Digital Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurial Marketing and Project Management.
Research areas
Sahar’s research focusses on the impact, and use, of smart technology with a special interest in the role these devices play in shaping users’ reality and/or practices, and the impact on their decisions, activities and wellbeing. Further, as a health professional by background, Sahar has a keen interest in how marketing influences health and wellbeing, and how our behaviours as consumers may relate to those.
Sahar is a member of the Practice Theory group, and is a regular attendee of their reading groups and research events. She is especially interested in the application of the theory to understanding how practices (re)develop, evolve and form in (smart) digital technology mediated contexts e.g. self-tracking using wearable technology. Sahar is open to PhD supervision, and multidisciplinary collaborations.
External activity
Sahar is a council member and Network convenor at the British Academy of Management (BAM) where she supports Early Career Academics’ professional development. She facilitates networking and membership of the community via various events and research assemblies as well as BAM’s first mentorship scheme which she established together with the Early-career Network co-chairs.
Sahar also works as an External Examiner at Oxford Brookes University.
Publications
Conference Presentation: Bakr, S.; Winklhofer, H.; Hibbert S. (2023): Exploring The Continued Use of Wearables for Self-Tracking: A Practice Perspective. At Academy of Marketing Science, World Marketing Congress Kent- UK.
Poster Presentation: Bakr S. (2022), Exploring users’ interaction with wearable fitness-trackers: a practice perspective. At Practice Theory Annual Gathering UK.
Conference Presentation: Bakr S., Winklhofer, H.; Hibbert S. (2021): Exploring the User Interaction with Wearables as Part of Self-Care Routines of The Modern “Healthy Living” Trend. At Health Humanities Conference Nottingham UK.
Poster Presentation: Bakr S. (2019): Assessing Patients’ Experience in a Digital Healthcare Service Context. At Nottingham University Business School Doctoral Conference Nottingham- UK.
Conference Presentation: Bakr S. (2019), Exploring the Impact of Interacting with Wearable Fitness-trackers on Physical Activity: A Longitudinal Study. At East Midlands ECR conference Birmingham- UK