Lecturer Profile: Mark Campbell

Mark Campbell is a lecturer in the Graduate Business School who takes pride in helping students start to think about creating their own businesses.

Mark lectures on a number of GBS courses, including the MSc & PgDip in International Business Management, the MSc & PgDip Procurement & Supply Chain Management and the MSc & PgDip Accounting & Finance Management. He teaches on different research modules, as well as supervising dissertation students on the MSc in Pharmaceutical Business.

“I’m from Dublin, but have lived in other parts of Ireland when I was younger – Laois and Offaly. I’ve travelled a fair bit and worked in other countries.” Mark is selling himself short when he says this – the list is extensive: the UK, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Switzerland, Czechia, Bosnia, Hungary, the USA and the Cayman Islands are all places he’s laid his head.

His experience isn’t limited to seeing the world, though, as he’s also Director of Upgrade Education Limited, a boutique and specialist consulting firm established in 2017 to provide educational and research support services to third-level colleges, the corporate sector and third-level students. The organisation consults in areas such as organisational design and development, programme design, curriculum and syllabus creating, teaching and assessing in research and communications.

Upgrade Education Limited’s subsidiary, ThesisUpgrade, publishes books and booklets on researching and writing theses – and Mark knows what he’s talking about there; his most recent publication was co-written with Dr. Susan Mulhall of TUD, titled “Doing Your Thesis – A Practical Guide.”

Asked what he loves about teaching, Mark is ready with an answer, and it’s a good one: “I get a buzz out of helping people think about innovation and starting up their own business, or becoming an intrepreneur." ("Intrepreneur" is a newer term -  kind of like the halfway point between being an employee and an entrepreneur. It describes someone who works for a company but takes total ownership and responsibility for a certain section of the business.) "There is nothing better than when a student tells you they have picked up the skills, capabilities and confidence to do just that.” And of course he has examples. “Two students from a PgDip course started up a small food-manufacturing business and another has taken his family truck maintenance business in a new direction by setting up a subsidiary providing electrical services. Another former student is currently negotiating a capital investment from an angel investor to set up a specialist service for high-tech technology companies.”

Clearly Mark has an impact on his students – we can’t wait to see who he inspires next.