Dr Cristina Galalae

Professional biography

My research is positioned at the intersection of consumer behaviour, multicultural marketing, and critical diversity scholarship. A significant part of my work explores the experiences of marginalised consumers, who either feel unable or unwilling to identify with the consumer market, and the mechanisms through which markets excludes some consumers, with the view to inform change.

I engage with consumers and markets in contexts such as Britain, the United States, Romania, Lebanon, etc. on a variety of topics such as: barriers for multicultural marketplace wellbeing, inclusive branding, how self-colonising narratives perpetuate societal exclusion, representations of diversity in advertising and media, motivations for culturally diverse consumption. At a methodological level, I am very interested in advancing research on the role of positionality and reflexivity when conducting consumer research with marginalised groups. 

My research program informs strategies for the reduction of inequalities, bringing peace and justice, and enabling the development of stronger institutions, in alignment with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. I also use my expertise to engage in cross-disciplinary research, including projects on how the discourse on equality, diversity and inclusion is embedded in business school education, digital marketing, and digital inclusion in the workplace.

My work received external funding, including from the Academy of Marketing, the Association for Consumer Research, the British Academy, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Romanian Ministry of Education, Innovation and Digitalization.

My expertise enables me to supervise doctoral students with various interests; I have supervised to completion several Ph.D. students. I welcome enquiries from prospective PhD students interested in exploring topics / perspectives such as:

• Consumer culture theory
• Consumer wellbeing
• Marketing ethics
• Transformative consumer research
• Diversity in the marketplace
• Inclusive marketing  
• Multicultural marketplaces
• Inclusion in and through marketing activities
• Acculturation studies
• Experiential consumption
• Inclusion and exclusion in the marketplace
• Consumer identities
• Inclusion and exclusion via digital technologies

As a student and as a teacher, I have had the opportunity to experience first-hand diverse education systems in the UK, US, Belgium, France, Denmark, South Africa, and Romania. My explorations of different learning and teaching approaches and my engagement with pedagogical scholarship led me to adopting a critical pedagogy approach, inspired by Paulo Freire and by Jacques Rancière.

Throughout the past 14 years, I had the opportunity of teaching various modules at Ph.D., MBA, Postgraduate and Undergraduate level, including: (1) Marketing Ethics and Society (UG); (2) Managing International Marketing Communications, Brand and Relationships (MBA); (3) Market Intelligence, Data Analysis and Research Methods (PG); (4) Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Research (Ph.D.); (5) Theory Building (Ph.D.); (6) Globalisation and Emerging Markets; (7) Ethical Foundations of International Marketing (PG); (8) Consumers, Brands and Communications (PG); (9) Qualitative Data Analysis Methods, Advanced Training for Ph.D. Students (Ph.D.); (10) Principles of Marketing (UG); (11) Marketing Management (PG); (12) Business Simulation (MBA); (13) Multicultural Marketing and the Multicultural Marketplace (UG); (14) Doing business across borders (UG); (15) Global Marketing (UG). Additionally, I had the privilege of supervising doctoral students, along with undergraduate, postgraduate and MBA dissertations.

I have been a Senior Fellow of Higher Education since 2018; I am interested to continue developing as an educator and in supporting others in their growth.

I forge strong educational links with Universities in the UK and abroad (e.g., Iowa State University, USA, IESEG France, University of Molise, Italy, Queen Mary University, UK, Aarhus University, Denmark, California State University, USA) and I engage recurrently with marketing practitioners working in organisations in Romania, as well as in the UK and USA.

The impact of my work with the Multicultural Marketplaces Network was recognised by the 2020 Women in Marketing ‘Marketing Scientist’ Award. In 2023, one of our papers published in the Journal of Public Policy and Marketing was adopted into the National Diversity Council member toolkit (USA). One year later, the paper was awarded the Thomas C. Kinnear/Journal of Public Policy & Marketing Award which annually recognizes the article that has made the most significant contribution to the understanding of marketing and public policy issues.