Debbie Kelly
Senior Lecturer Public Relations
BA (Hons), FHEA
My profile
Biography
I have worked as an academic for almost ten years specialising in delivering undergraduate and postgraduate public relations courses for several NW universities.
For the last two years I have been working at Manchester Met as a senior lecturer in public relations and most recently as a Programme Leader for the Retail Leadership Degree Apprenticeship.
I trained as a broadcast journalist with BBC North and my PR career has been varied, working in-house for the BBC, for First Leisure and for local government. In addition, I have worked for several agencies including Leedex PR and J. Walter Thompson.
I still work part-time in PR and offer students a lifetime of experience and real-life examples of working in this dynamic and exciting marketing environment.
Interests and expertise
In order to ensure my teaching remains relevant to students I continue to work part-time as a PR consultant offering strategic advice to several SMEs across the region.
I am a regular contributor on BBC Radio Manchester putting the world to rights and having a giggle with other guests.
In addition, I am also a trained civil celebrant which means at the weekends I can often be found in a stately hall or marquee officiating at wedding ceremonies! Why - well because it’s good fun but also shares many similar skills to those used in public relations.
Teaching
Current Unit Leadership:
Public Relations Principles and Practice - this level 5 core unit offers students an introduction to the main principles and theories of public relations and allows students to apply them to a real-world campaign.
Public Relations Specialisms - this level 6 option unit is a popular choice for both advertising and marketing students who want insight into the field of public relations to enhance their employability as a well-rounded communications specialist.
Persuasive Writing - writing remains a key skill in public relations and this level 6 unit allows students to fine tune their creative and journalistic writing skills across a range of mediums.
ADDITIONAL TEACHING
Strategic Communications & PR - working with L7 international students who are looking to enhance their education and employability with a relevant post-graduate degree.
Strategic Comms & Advertising - this popular level 6 unit asks students to critique the current marketing strategy of an existing brand before going on to develop their own creative proposal based on marketing theory and research.
Business Marketing Professional - a level 6 unit which employs both theory and real-life simulation software to encourage student to consider how marketing theory can be applied to the development and sale of new products in different markets.
Research outputs
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Conference papers
Kelly, D., Hammoudeh, M. (2018) 'Optimisation of the public key encryption infrastructure for the Internet of Things.'