About me

I’m Dr Aarron J. J. Atkinson-Toal, an academic, writer and marketing educator based in the North East of England. I work as an Assistant Professor in Marketing at Durham University Business School, where I teach and write about consumer behaviour, behavioural science and marketing education, including the ways AI technology is reshaping learning and writing.

I have worked in higher education for more than 16 years, mainly across business and marketing. Much of my work has involved helping students connect ideas from the classroom with the decisions and pressures they will encounter beyond university. I am especially interested in why people buy, how brands influence behaviour, and how students develop the confidence to think critically about the world of marketing around them.

Areas of expertise

My main areas of expertise are consumer behaviour, marketing and consumer psychology, behavioural science and generative AI technologies in research and education. I am particularly drawn to the human side of marketing, exploring why we choose, trust, desire, hesitate, form habits and respond to brands and their offerings. In other words, why do we buy the things that we buy.

Alongside my teaching, I publish scholarship on marketing education, curriculum design and generative AI policy in higher education. I also work with external partners and professional bodies to connect academic insight with practical questions facing students, educators and organisations. I am a member of the Data and Marketing Association and regularly work with them as judge of the DMA awards.

Current and forthcoming work

My forthcoming book, Influenced: The Science of Why We Buy, will be published by Bloomsbury in 2026. It will also be available in international markets and translated into Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese. It explores the psychology and behavioural science behind everyday consumer decisions, with the aim of making research on influence and persuasion accessible to a wider readership.

I am also researching how students and educators are responding to generative AI, particularly in relation to fairness, digital confidence, assessment and inclusive learning.

At heart, my work is about people. How we think, how we learn, how we decide, and how education can help us make better sense of the choices all around us.