Julia A. Fehrer is Associate Professor of Innovation and Strategy and serves as Co-Director of the Circular Economy in Business Research Centre at the University of Auckland. Her research forms at the intersection of strategy, service research, and innovation, focusing on market and ecosystem innovation as catalyst for digital and societal transformation. She is the Academic Lead of the Disciplinay Area Innovation and Strategy, co-chairs a Special Interest Group focused on Market Shaping and Innovation (MASHIN) and contributes to the Journal of Service Management, Journal of Service Theory and Practice, and AMS Review as a member of their editorial boards. With a substantial grant from the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment, she currently works in a transdisciplinary team to facilitate the shift of New Zealand's plastic industry towards a circular economy.  Dr Fehrer's work, published in leading journals such as the Journal of Service Research, Industrial Marketing Management, the Journal of Business Research and Business Strategy and the Environment has been recognized with several international awards, including the Australian & New Zealand Marketing Academy Emerging Researcher of the Year Award and the Early Career Reserach Excellence Award at the University of Auckland. 

As an educator, Dr Fehrer is known for her innovative teaching methods in strategy, service design, and innovation, blending traditional and digital formats to enhance students’ learning experience. Her contributions to teaching have been recognized with the University of Auckland Business School's Early Career Excellence in Teaching Award.

Currently, she is open to supervising research students with projects revolving around

• circular innovation,
• shaping circular ecosystems and markets
• the role of digital platforms and advanced digital technologies in circular economy transitions
• Circular and sustainable transitions of SMEs
• Place-based circular ecosystems and regional circular innovation 
• Circular innovation within Indigenous value systems.

SIGNIFICANT DISTINCTIONS / AWARDS:

2024 Best Paper in B2B Track, Australian & New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference

2023 Early Career Research Excellence Award, The University of Auckland, New Zealand

2023 Emerald Literati Outstanding Reviewer Award, Journal of Service Theory and Practice

2022 MBIE Endeavor Fund, Shaping circular markets for plastics in New Zealand, 11.7 Mio, Principal Investigator for market-facing projects

2021 Finalist Best Paper Award, 29th European Sport Management Conference, Cologne

2020 Early Career Excellence in Teaching Award, The University of Auckland Business School, New Zealand

2019 Emerging Marketing Researcher of the Year Award, Australian & New Zealand Marketing Academy

2019 Early Career Research Excellence Award, The University of Auckland Business School, New Zealand

2019 Alcoa Visiting Professor (2019-2020), University of Western Australia, Perth

2018 International Club Prize for International Engagement, University of Bayreuth, Germany

2018 Schöller Fellow, Dr. Theo and Friedl Schöller Research Center for Business and Society, Nuremberg, Germany

2017 Best Paper Award, Australian & New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference

2017 Best Paper in Service Track, Australian & New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference