Speakers
Robert V. Kozinets
University of Southern California, USA
Hufschmid Chair at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism (United States). Renowned for pioneering the field of netnography, Professor Kozinets has extensively published on digital consumer culture, online brand communities, social media marketing, and the anthropology of contemporary consumption. His work has appeared in top-tier academic outlets, including the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research or Harvard Business Review. His primary research interests lie in uncovering how emerging digital platforms transform consumer behavior and brand relationships—topics that closely intersect with Industry 4.0 innovations such as artificial intelligence, generative AI, extended reality, and other advanced interactive technologies. Professor Kozinets has authored several leading books on netnographic methods and digital marketing research, bolstering his reputation as a key voice in illuminating the cultural and strategic forces driving online engagement. He currently serves on the editorial boards of multiple academic journals, thereby shaping the scholarly conversation around consumer insights and digital communication worldwide.
Xueming Luo
Temple University, USA
Charles Gilliland Distinguished Chair Professor of Marketing at the Fox School of Business, Temple University (United States), and Founder/Director of the Global Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Business Analytics. His research broadly examines the interface of marketing, management information systems, and data science—most notably in digital mobile marketing, social media advertising, omnichannel analytics, and machine learning applications in consumer behavior.
Regularly published in elite journals such as Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing, Management Science, and Information Systems Research, Professor Luo’s work has gained visibility in leading business and technology outlets. His recent agenda includes empirical modeling, AI-driven recommendation algorithms, and deep learning experiments for personalized promotions—topics of particular relevance to emerging Industry 4.0 trends in AI and automation. He has been recognized among the top contributors in premier marketing journals, reflecting his thought leadership in both academia and practice.
Marianna Sigala
University of Newcastle, Australia
Professor of Marketing at the University of Newcastle (Australia) whose research explores how digital technologies and service innovations reshape the tourism and hospitality sectors. She is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Management and Co-Editor of the Journal of Service Theory & Practice, reflecting her longstanding dedication to advancing theoretical and practical insights in services marketing, tourism management, and customer experience design.
Her academic career includes roles at universities in Greece, the UK, and Australia, along with leadership in international research projects funded by both governmental and industry bodies. Professor Sigala’s publications encompass books and journal articles examining topics such as social media, sharing economies, and service management, often spotlighting the transformative impact of emerging digital tools on consumer behavior and business operations in Tourism Management, Cornell Hospitality Quarterly or Electronic markets. She has received multiple awards for her contributions to the field, including the prestigious EuroCHRIE Presidents’ Award in 2016.
Carlos Velasco
BI Norwegian Business School, Norway
Associate Professor in the Department of Marketing at BI Norwegian Business School (Oslo, Norway) and co-founder of the Centre for Multisensory Marketing. D.Phil. in Experimental Psychology (Oxford University). His research sits at the intersection of Psychology, Marketing, and Human–Computer Interaction, with a focus on multisensory experiences, crossmodal correspondences, and consumer behavior. He has published in top-tier journals, such as Food Quality and Preference, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Interactive Marketing, etc. Professor Velasco also serves on several editorial boards, including Food Quality and Preference, Journal of Business Research, Psychology & Marketing, International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science, and the International Journal of Food Design. His lines of research include consumer engagement, digital marketing, innovation, and branding, contributing to the understanding of how novel interfaces and technologies reshape consumer experiences in services and beyond.
