Dr Carolyn Wilson-Nash

Senior Lecturer

Marketing & Retail University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA

Dr Carolyn Wilson-Nash

Contact details

About me

Carolyn Wilson-Nash is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing and Retail at Stirling Business School, University of Stirling. She has previously held academic roles at Durham University Business School and University of Salford.

Carolyn is a consumer researcher whose work explores how people engage with digital technologies in everyday life, particularly when they are experiencing vulnerability or navigating complex life circumstances. Her research focuses on how individuals experience, adapt to, and sometimes resist digital systems, and what this means for inclusion, wellbeing, and service design.

Her research examines digital inclusion and vulnerability, with a particular focus on older people, health contexts, and social care, and how technology shapes experiences of independence, connection, and quality of life. Moreover, it centres on responsible and ethical digital innovation, exploring how marketing, service systems, and emerging technologies can better support those who are often overlooked or excluded.

Carolyn collaborates with partners across health, social care, and industry to deliver applied, impactful research. As a Principal or Co-Investigator she has secured £1.9 million in research funding from organisations including the Scottish Funding Council, The Carnegie Trust, NIHR, and Innovate UK, contributing to projects on inclusive digital technology in care homes, social care, and commercial online services. She is currently involved in a large multi-partner NIHR-funded project examining post-hospital discharge and reablement, as well as a Knowledge Transfer Partnership with Clevertouch Consulting.

She has published in high-quality journals including Social Science and Medicine, Psychology and Marketing, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Interactive Marketing, and Journal of Business Research. She welcomes PhD applications in the areas of digital inclusion, consumer vulnerability, and technology-enabled service systems.

Award

Ageing & Society's Article of the Month
Awarded Article of Month in March 2018 by Ageing & Society.

RATE award 2022 (Honourable Mention)
University of Stirling
Awarded a RATE award in 2022 for Innovation in Blended Learning.

Santander Scholarship
Awarded a Santander Universities Research Grant in 2023.

Event / Presentation

#282 Older Adults and Tech with Carolyn Wilson-Nash
https://uxpodcast.com/…lyn-wilson-nash/
Featured on the UX Podcast in February 2022 talking about older people and technology paradoxes. The podcast is targeted at business professionals working in UX, it reaches listeners in 120 different countries and territories, is on streaming services such as Spotify, Soundcloud, and Google Podcast, and each episode is downloaded 10,000 times on average.

Dignity, Technology, and Human Values in Smart Technological Environments: From Design to the Lived Experience
https://youtu.be/ho6gz_972fs?si=rMqpxjXyEc8DaP9P
Represented the Centre for Research into Information, Surveillance, and Privacy (CRISP) on a panel about “Dignity, Technology, and Human Values in Smart Technological Environments: From Design to the Lived Experience” at the Computers, Privacy and Data Protection (CPDP) conference in Brussels from 24th to 26th May 2023.

Older Consumers of Technology in an Ever-evolving Digital Society
Dublin City University
Gave a research seminar on “Older consumers of technology in an ever-evolving digital society” at the Irish Institute of Digital Business, Dublin City University on Wednesday 18th October 2023.

Seldom Heard Voices: Digital Exclusion of Older People
Gave a seminar on “Seldom Heard Voices: Digital exclusion of older people” at the Oxfordshire County Council Co-Production Week on 4th July 2023.

External Examiners and Validations

External Examiner
University of Glasgow
External examiner at the University of Glasgow on two postgraduate programmes (MBA Management Programmes and MSc Management Programmes).

External Examiner
University of Durham
External examiner at Durham University Business School on the undergraduate Management and Marketing programmes.

MPhil Examiner
University of Cambridge
External examiner for an MPhil in Psychology (Smart Speaker Use and Psychological Well-Being Among Older Adults) at the University of Cambridge on 7th October 2020.

Professional qualification

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
Higher Education Academy
Awarded Fellow of the HEA following completion of the Postgraduate Certification in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education in June 2020.

Outputs (31)

Book Chapter

Branding and Ageing Consumers: Breaking the Stereotype

Wilson-Nash C (2025) Branding and Ageing Consumers: Breaking the Stereotype. In: Zarantonello L & Andreini D (eds.) The Sage Handbook of Brand Management. London: Sage. https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/the-sage-handbook-of-brand-management/book289737#description

Article

DIALOGUE: Digital care technologies for social connection, care and support of older adults. Final Project Report. [version 1; peer review: awaiting peer review]

Gibson G, Lariviere M, Steils N, Marston H, Wilson-Nash C, Lynch J, Brittain K, Henderson C, Thorn J, Worthington J, Pike K & Mehta R (2025) DIALOGUE: Digital care technologies for social connection, care and support of older adults. Final Project Report. [version 1; peer review: awaiting peer review]. NIHR Open Research. https://doi.org/10.3310/nihropenres.13994.1

Project Report

Evaluation of the 'Connecting Residents in Scotland's Care Homes' Programme

Gibson G, Pavlopoulou I, Wilson-Nash C & McCabe L (2022) Evaluation of the 'Connecting Residents in Scotland's Care Homes' Programme. Scottish Government Technology Enabled Care programme and Digital Health and Care Innovation Centre (DHI). Stirling. https://tec.scot/programme-areas/digital-social-care/current-activities/connecting-residents-scotlands-care-homes-evaluation#:~:text=The%20evaluation%20of%20the%20'Connecting,with%20the%20Digital%20Health%20and

Conference Paper (published)

From F.O.M.O. to Changxin: A Cross-cultural Exploration of Consumer Response to Newness in the Fast-moving Consumer Goods Industry

Wilson-Nash C & Xiao S (2019) From F.O.M.O. to Changxin: A Cross-cultural Exploration of Consumer Response to Newness in the Fast-moving Consumer Goods Industry. In: Academy of Marketing Conference 2019: 'When you tire of marketing you tire of life'. Academy of Marketing 52nd Annual Conference, Regent's University London, 02.07.2019-04.07.2019. Helensburgh: Academy of Marketing, p. 64. https://issuu.com/regentscollege/docs/academy_of_marketing_conference_pro

Conference Paper (published)

Why People Do Not Switch: Product Form Level Explanations for Incremental Innovative Product Adoption Behaviour

Xiao S, Wilson C, Kureshi I, Theodoropoulos G, Esquejo N, Slassor M, Hindson A, Buckley E, Herbert R, Murphy P, Davis T & Heukaeufe E (2017) Why People Do Not Switch: Product Form Level Explanations for Incremental Innovative Product Adoption Behaviour. In: Proceedings of the Academy of Marketing 2017 Conference. 50th Academy of Marketing Conference, Hull, UK, 03.07.2017-06.07.2017. Helensburgh, Scotland: Academy of Marketing.

Conference Paper (published)

E-Health Diaries for People at End-of-life: "A crutch to lean on"

Wilson C, Ormandy P, Vasilica C & Ali S (2016) E-Health Diaries for People at End-of-life: "A crutch to lean on". In: HIMS'16 : the 2016 International Conference on Health Informatics and Medical Systems, July 25-28, 2016, Monte Carlo Resort, Las Vegas, USA. International Conference of Health Informatics and Medical Systems HIMS'16, Las Vegas, 25.07.2016-28.07.2016, pp. 89-95. http://worldcomp-proceedings.com/proc/p2016/HIMS16_Contents.html

Teaching

Carolyn teaches across undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in marketing at the University of Stirling, and is currently Programme Director for the MSc Marketing and MSc Digital Marketing and Brand Management.

Her teaching focuses on consumer behaviour and research methods, with an emphasis on critical, reflective, and ethical practice. She is particularly interested in helping students understand the role of marketing in shaping experiences of inclusion and exclusion, and in equipping consumers to navigate the challenges of an increasingly complex digital environment.

Carolyn’s teaching is research-led and practice-oriented, drawing on her work in digital inclusion, health, and emerging technologies. She is committed to creating engaging and supportive learning environments, and to working closely with students to support their academic and professional development. As a result, she received an honorary mention in the RATE awards for innovation in blended learning.