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Dr Elena Millan

Photograph of Elena Millan

Marketing Subject Area Leader 

PhD Admissions Lead, Department of Agri-Food Economics and Marketing

Areas of interest

Elena conducts research on consumer behaviour and marketing, with three areas of particular focus: fashion and luxury brands, food consumption, and digital marketing.

Elena applies both quantitative and qualitative methods in her work, and her studies are often of mixed-method design. The results of her research have been published in academic journals of international standing. She is also reviewer for several academic journals in the field of marketing and consumer behaviour.

In her publications, she has explored issues such as status consumption, experiential shopping, cross-cultural variations in consumer behaviour, market segmentation, and consumer attitudes towards advertising. Within the food theme, she is interested in issues such as consumer food preferences and eating habits, consumer responses to food innovations, and the role of consumer co-creation in new food product development. Her interests in the digital marketing area include consumer adoption of IT innovations and online consumer behaviour.

Postgraduate supervision

Elena welcomes PhD applications from strongly motivated candidates with research proposals on any contemporary issues in Consumer Behaviour (especially related to Fashion or Food), Digital Marketing, International Marketing, Advertising, and Retailing. 

Teaching

  • Module convenor of Consumer Behaviour
  • Module convenor of Qualitative Research Methods
  • Module convenor of Consumer Research Group Project 1
  • Module convenor of Consumer Research Group Project 2
  • Module convenor of Consumer Behaviour and Food Marketing

Background

Prior to joining the University of Reading as Lecturer in Consumer Research and Marketing, Elena has held academic posts as Lecturer in Marketing at the Universities of Essex and Surrey, and was Tutor and Research Officer at the University of Oxford, as well as Researcher at the College of Europe, Bruges, Belgium. She has also carried out consultancy work, and welcomes enquiries for potential consultancy projects, such as Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP).

Academic qualifications

Elena obtained her DPhil in Management Studies (Marketing) from the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. She is Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA). She is also common room member of Wolfson College, University of Oxford, and member of the Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health (IFNH), University of Reading. 

Professional bodies/affiliations

  • Association for Consumer Research
  • European Marketing Academy
  • European Association for Education and Research in Commercial Distribution

Publications