New Head of the Marketing Department

As a relatively new member of staff in the Marketing Department I was asked to introduce myself to you all. Prior to joining the Business School in 2012, I held posts at Lancaster University Management School and the University of East Anglia (where I spent some time working in the Centre for Competition Policy), and I have also taught short courses in the People’s Republic of China and South Africa.

In terms of current research interests, I have been studying the psychology of the individual in virtual worlds with a particular focus on pathological behaviour and addiction to virtual worlds such as Second Life and World of Warcraft (this was also the subject of a recent podcast recorded for the School’s webpage, which will be appearing soon). I am also interested in the interface between marketing and competition law/antitrust, or why marketers engage in illegal and unethical behaviours, and I have recently been studying the role of marketing managers in price-fixing cartels in the EU. My research background, however, is in business-to-business marketing, and I am currently the Co-Chair of the business-to-business marketing Special Interest Group and conference track for the British Academy of Marketing.

In December I became Head of the Marketing Department. I think it is an interesting time for the Department, particularly as we will be shortly recruiting a number of new colleagues at chair level, as well as at senior lecturer and lecturer levels, so we should have a new group of colleagues to welcome over the summer. We are also trying to develop a research theme of ‘Responsible Business’, with an emphasis on company ethics and consumer public policy issues, led by Professor Isabelle Szmigin; please speak to her if you would like to participate. I would also like to remind colleagues that we have a number of external speakers visiting the School over the next few months as part of our seminar series. All colleagues are welcome to attend.

Thanks to everyone for being so welcoming, and I look forward to working with all of you. I would also like to take this opportunity to welcome Yvetta Simonyan and Sarah Forbes, who joined us as lecturers in December and January respectively. I look forward to meeting more colleagues from the School and across the University over the coming months.

Best wishes,

Andrew Pressey.