Tom van Laer is Associate Professor of Narratology at the University of Sydney. He studies storytelling, social media, and consumer behaviour. His research is published in leading and highly-regarded academic journals, including the Journal of Consumer Research, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of Interactive Marketing, Journal of Management Information Systems, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Marketing Management, et cetera. His work has been covered by the ABC, the Sydney Morning Herald, Newsweek, Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, the Independent, Financial Times, and national TV and radio stations in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK, among other news outlets.
Previously, Tom has been Reader of Marketing at Cass Business School, City University of London, UK, a consultant of the European Commission, and a visiting scholar at several Australian Group of Eight universities. He holds a doctorate (PhD) in marketing from Maastricht University, the Netherlands. Though he has won awards for his academic research, teaching, and media exposure, Tom counts winning his high school's story recital competition in 1995 as his most impressive accomplishment.
