Rate My Professor Wiebke Finkler

Dr. Wiebke Finkler is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Marketing within the Otago Business School at the University of Otago, where she also serves as Research Lead of the Visual Research and Creative Marketing Lab. She earned her MSc in Marine Sciences and PhD from the University of Otago, with her doctoral thesis, "The Science Communication of Whale Watching: A People-Focused Approach," completed in 2018. Originally trained as a marine biologist, documentary filmmaker, and science communicator, Finkler has amassed over 25 years of professional filmmaking experience. Her documentaries have been broadcast on ABC Television and Discovery Channel, screened at international film festivals, and garnered prestigious awards, including the Special Jury Prize at the 11th Kuala Lumpur Eco Film Festival for The Guardian of Kinabalu (2018) and the 2021 Foreword Indies Gold Award for Ecology & Environment for her book The Science of Hope: Eye to Eye with our World's Wildlife.

Finkler's academic career centers on creative marketing research, with specializations in visual storytelling, science communication, behaviour change, social good campaigns, immersive technologies like 360° VR with ambisonic sound, and community-based social marketing for conservation and sustainability. Her early research encompassed whale conservation and sustainable tourism, involving fieldwork on all continents—from killer whale studies in the north-west Pacific to Antarctic expeditions. With over 66 academic publications, presentations, and workshops to her name, key works include "Marketing sustainability in a warming world: Lessons from polar cruise tourism" (Sustainability, 2025, with L. Zhu), "Virtual nature and well-being: Exploring the potential of 360° VR" (Applied Psychology: Health & Well-Being, 2025, with L. Vlietstra et al.), "National parks as vehicles for science communication: The science of signs" (Journal of Science Communication, 2025, with L.S. Davis and L. Zhu), "Stakeholder perspectives on sustainable whale watching: a science communication approach" (Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 2019, with J.E.S. Higham), and "Strategies for climate change communication through social media" (Media International Australia, 2021, with M. Boykoff and L.S. Davis). Through innovative video-based methods and immersive tools, her contributions advance public engagement and marketing strategies for environmental and social impact. Finkler teaches courses such as MART 112 Marketing Communication, MART 333 Creative Marketing Communication, and MART 449 Creative Marketing for Behaviour Change, Sustainability and Social Good, while offering hands-on workshops in mobile filmmaking, photography, and visual communication to educators, researchers, and non-academic audiences.