Dr. Simon Thornton

Dr Simon Thornton has taught at RMIT since 2010, initially in Marketing subject within the School of Economic, Finance and Marketing and since 2019 as the WIL Academic in the central college school. 

Simon has created and coordinates the current suite of Business Internship courses now available to all students at both UGRD and PGRD level on shore and in Singapore. This has increased the number of students undertaking direct industry engagement learning from just 75 in 2018 to over 300 each year (2019-2023) which includes Melbourne's lockdown periods when one third of Internship placements were cancelled.  

To achieve this Simon works closely with the CoBL WIL team, International WIL and Partnerships Team and many industry partners, to ensure that roles are approved for credit and supported in any applied learning pathway.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-simon-thornton-8a180a97/

A passionate educator, Simon devised the new Bachelor of Business (Professional Practice) Program. First creating the new degree architecture and now coordinating/teaching the new core courses of Impact Academy, Developing Professionally and also Professional Apprentice 1-2 courses.   

As a member of the College's Learning and Teaching Team Simon stands in as Acting Undergraduate Business Program Director when required. This includes chairing Course Assessment Committees, Program Academic Boards, Show Cause Panels and promoting the college programs to, new students, Year 12 parents, careers advisors and international agents at 0 Week events, Open Day and roadshows.   

Simon is a VIC/TAZ board member of the Australian Collaboration Education Network (ACEN) Victoria and, The National Association of Field Experience Administrators Inc. (NAFEA). 

Research interests: Work Integrated Learning, Industry Partnered Learning, In-curriculum WIL design, teaching support. Academic papers have been submitted in 2024.

2023 - AFHEA (Indigenous Knowledges), QUTX 

2017 – PhD, RMIT University, Thesis Topic: What drives the speed of upgrade for electronic consumer products

1997 - National Vocational Qualification, Level 4 Marketing Products and Services, The Chartered Institute of Marketing (UK)

1994 - BA (Hons), Leeds University (UK)

Over fifteen years in research, marketing, and creative communication roles (1994-2009). Creating and developing brands, executing marketing promotional campaigns (internal and external) for a range of public and private UK-based clients. This included The Learning and Skills Council and the All-England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, better known as Wimbledon.