I am willing to supervise PhD students in the broad areas of interpretive consumer research, the sociology of consumption, and critical marketing studies.

I am a Professor in Consumer Culture Studies with the Department of Marketing at Lancaster University Management School and Director of the LUMS Centre for Consumption Insights. My principal research focuses on the social and cultural aspects of consumer behaviour including collective and symbolic forms of consumption, marketplace ideologies, consumer escapism, and the cultural politics of marketing. I am also interested in consumer health & well-being, food cultures, and the parasocial relationships that consumers forge with celebrity brands. Much of my current research activities focus on how social structures, ideologies, and interactions between people shape and ground their consumption experiences. To explore these areas, I have used a variety of qualitative research methods and theoretical formulations from philosophy, sociology, and cultural theory.

My work has appeared in international peer-reviewed journals including Marketing Theory, European Journal of Marketing, Annals of Tourism Research, Journal of Marketing Management, Consumption, Markets & Culture, Sociology of Health & Illness, and Journal of Business Research. I co-edited a Special Issue for the Journal of Marketing Management entitled 'De-romanticising the market: advances in Consumer Culture Theory' (2022, Vol. 38 Iss 1-2) and am an Associate Editor for Consumption, Markets & Culture.

I am a co-chair and organiser for the upcoming Cybernetic Culture Workshop 2025, an interdisciplinary event hosted by the Centre for Consumption Insights, Security Lancaster, and RISCS. Surrounding this workshop, I am involved in research that explores digitalisation and its relationships with political economy, consumer culture, crime, radicalisation, and new mechanisms of exclusion.

Previously, I was involved as a co-investigator on the UKRI NERC-funded 'Plastic Packaging in People's Lives' (PPiPL) interdisciplinary project (2020-2024). The PPiPL project set out to produce a critical, nuanced, and comprehensive overview of the ideological, socio-cultural, historical, and industrial conditions, circular supply chain logistics, and post-consumer pathways that contribute to the perceived legitimacy of plastic packaging materials in the UK. I have drawn from philosophy and cultural theory to approach plastic as a "passengerial" marketplace icon that furtively accompanies consumers on their various experiential journeys. I am the lead author of The Little Book of Plastics in Everyday Life. 

I regularly present my work at the Interpretive Consumer Research (ICR) Workshops and Consumer Culture Theory (CCT) conferences and won the Best Paper Award at the 2016 CCT conference in Lille, France.

1. 'Plastic Packaging in Peoples’ Lives (PPiPL): Understanding attitudes and behaviour around plastic food packaging' (Nov 2020-Oct 2023). Awarded by Natural Environment Research Council, UKRI. Amount awarded:  £760,257

Awarded to: Professor Maria Piacentini (Co PI), Dr Alison Stowell (Co PI), Professor James Cronin (CI), Dr Alex Skandalis (CI), Professor Linda Hendry (CI), Dr John Hardy (CI) 

2. Public experiences of service change in primary care: Focusing on the spaces and places of service delivery (Oct 2023- Oct 2026). Competitive PhD CASE Studentship awarded by NWSSDTP Economic and Social Research Council, UKRI.

Awarded to: co-supervisors Professor Maria Piacentini & Professor James Cronin

3. Resisting bureau-medicalisation: The integration of ‘Spaces of Compassion’ with the Biomedical Healthcare Environment (Oct 2023- Oct 2026). Competitive PhD CASE Studentship awarded by NWSSDTP Economic and Social Research Council, UKRI.

Awarded to: co-supervisors Professor James Cronin and Dr Leighanne Higgins

Select Media Publications

• Cronin, J. (2018), “A Quiet Place and Far Cry 5: popular media on the dangers of ‘speaking out’”, The Conversation, 12^th April.
• Cronin, J. (2017), "Back in time for Christmas dinner: the modern desire for a bygone age", The Conversation, 22^nd December.
• Cronin, J. (2017), “The shopping experience is out of date”, The Grocer, 23^rd February.
• Cronin, J. (2016), “Why novelty dining experiences are just another way of getting high”, The Conversation, 27^th June.
• Cronin, J. (2016), “How sauerkraut is leading a food revolution”, The Conversation, 15^th June.
• Cronin, J. (2016), “Nutripocalypse: The Nutrition Labelling Overload”, Huffington Post, 11^th May.
• Cronin, J. (2016), “Predicting a Sugar Tax Blowback”, Huffington Post, 19^th April.

I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Authority. I have expertise in research-led teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, specialising in consumer behaviour, brand management, brand strategy, and issues pertaining to consumer culture. My teaching takes a critical and cultural approach to the brand-related activities of organisations and seeks to encourage a more mindful, socially-aware understanding of the role of brands in contemporary consumer culture. 

I was awarded the Management School Teaching Prize at the 2018 Dean’s Awards and was 'Highly Commended' for my teaching at the University-wide 2022 Staff Awards.

Dr Scott Jones (completed PhD part-time in 2021), Lecturer at Birmingham University

Dr Quynh Hoang (completed PhD full-time in 2022), Lecturer at Leicester University

Dr Sophie James (completed PhD full-time in 2024), Lecturer at Lancaster University