Ghent University

Liselot Hudders 

Liselot Hudders (°1983) got a Communication Sciences degree (2005) and PhD in Communication Sciences (2011) (Ghent University, Belgium). She worked as part-time guest professor at Antwerp University between 2012 and 2015 and as a post-doctoral researcher at Ghent University. In October 2015, she started working at Ghent University as tenure track professor in the Dept. of Communication sciences. In addition, she is post-doctoral fellow of the FWO (2015-2021) at the Department of Marketing, Innovation and Management (Ghent University) on a project on the effects of influencer marketing.

Since 2012, she is director of the Center for Persuasive Communication, which unites a team of 25 researchers who are conducting research on the effectiveness of persuasive communication in a profit and nonprofit context. Her research focuses on the effects of digital marketing tactics, with a special focus on how children and youngsters respond to embedded and integrated advertising. An important research line concerns influencers marketing. She currently guides two PhD researchers and one post-doctoral researcher who are all working on the effectiveness of influencer marketing to endorse brands and promote a sustainable lifestyle. In addition, she examines how this tactic can be used in an ethical and transparent way by examining the effects of adding a clear advertising disclosure to sponsored content. Additionally, she examines how these digital marketing tactics can be used to raise awareness and incite people to consume more sustainable. She guides two PhD students examining how social media can be used to promote meat reduction and a sustainable energy use. In addition, she guides a post-doc researcher who is examining the effects of nudges to affect sustainable consumption practices. She currently supervises 14 Phd students and three post-doc researchers and her research is currently funded by Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk onderzoek (FWO), internal Ugent funding, Vlaams Fonds voor Innovatie en Ondernemen (VLAIO), Interreg2seas, the Chinese Scholarship Council, the city of Ghent and the European Advertising Standards Alliance.

Liselot Hudders is a non-funded member of the board of the European Advertising Academy and the persuasive division of Netherlands-Flanders Communication Association. She is member of the editorial board of International Journal of Advertising and the scientific board of the Monaco Luxury Symposium.

Maggie Geuens

Maggie Geuens obtained a PhD in Applied Economics from the University of Antwerp in 1998. After working as an Assistant Professor for a few years at the Free University of Brussels and the Vlerick Business School, she joined Ghent University in 2000. Currently she is Professor of Marketing and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Business Economics at Ghent University.

Her main field of research interest is in advertising, branding and consumer behavior. Eight years ago, she refocused her research and together with Iris Vermeir founded a Consumer Behavior Group with a specific focus on encouraging consumers to engage in healthy and sustainable consumer behavior. Maggie collaborated, for example, on research on the extent to which food consumption behavior is impacted by online vs. offline grocery shopping, packaging formats (resealable or not, squeesh tubes or jams), assortment size, assortment sequence, advertising content, nudging in a retail and restaurant context, and health goals. Her research is funded through internal Ghent University funding, Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (FWO), Flemish Government, and Food4Health (EIT Food & EIT Health).  Maggie is non-funded senior editor of the International Journal of Research in Marketing, and non-funded member of the editorial board of the Journal of Marketing, the Journal of Advertising, and the International Journal of Advertising. She receives royalties form a textbook (Marketing Communications, Pearson Education).

Iris Vermeir

Iris Vermeir is associate professor at Ghent University. She obtained her PhD in Applied Economics from Ghent University in 2003. Her research focusses on several aspects of consumer behavior and marketing communication relating to sustainable and healthy consumption. In 2011, she founded a Consumer Behavior Group together with Maggie Geuens with a specific focus on encouraging consumers to engage in healthy and sustainable consumer behavior. She is also head of the research center BE4life ‘behavioral economics for life’, an interdisciplinary Ugent research center that works together on increasing well-being enhancing consumption (i.e. sustainable, healthy and ethical consumption). Iris obtained funding through internal Ghent University and Ghent University College funding, Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (FWO) and the Flemish Government. She has worked with some of Belgian’s largest companies (e.g. Colruyt Group, KBC, …) and the department of Environment of the Flemish Government on projects to promote sustainable consumption. She collaborated on research like the extent to which food consumption behavior is impacted by packaging formats (squeesh tubes or jams) or packaging material (paper or plastic), assortment size, assortment sequence, advertising content and nudging in a retail and restaurant context.

Viktor Proesmans

Viktor Proesmans is a PhD researcher at the Ghent University, Department of Marketing, Innovation and Organisation. He obtained his master’s degree ‘Health Food Innovation Management’ at Maastricht University in 2019. In the past he contributed to research conducted by Maastricht University and the ild care foundation.

Currently he works on a historical analysis of popular food media in Flanders. During this part he will analyse the influence food media had on our food consumption in the last 10 years, whether recipes and food advise promoted by different food media are healthy, and what discourse popular food media figures use to present their message.