Speakers

Dr. Michael Heasman
Dr. Michael Heasman is Senior Lecturer in Food Marketing and Strategy at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. Before this he was Assistant Professor in Food Policy at the University of Alberta, Canada. Previously he was self-employed as an independent writer and researcher specialising in food and health, the global food business, and food policy. During this time he worked as an editor, consultant and speaker in the U.S., Canada, Japan, Australia, China and many European countries for both business and public organizations.

Michael has written more than 90 publications, reports, or invited presentations, including three co-authored books: Food Wars: The Global Battle for Mouths, Minds and Markets (with Prof. Tim Lang, 2004), The Functional Foods Revolution: Healthy People, Healthy Profits? (2001) and Consumption in the Age of Affluence: the World of Food (1996). He has been an editor on three international food industry newsletters – New Nutrition Business, Financial Times Food Business, and Innova.

He completed his PhD at the University of Bradford’s Food Policy Research Unit investigating the impact of government nutrition policy on sugar consumption - pioneering research on the response of food business to diet and health concerns. From 1990 to 1999 he held a number of academic research positions in the UK including as Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Food Policy, Thames Valley University, London; the Food and Economics Group at the University of Reading; the Department of Economics at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London; and the Food Policy Research Unit at the University of Bradford. He is currently an honorary Research Fellow at the Centre for Food Policy, City University, London. His current research interest is the marketing and strategic implications of corporate social responsibility (CSR) trends on food business.

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