Dr Sean Tanner (PhD, CTLHE, BCOMGE) is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing and Consumer Behaviour at the Cork University Business School, UCC and Co-Director of the MSc Marketing programme. Sean’s teaching is in the areas of marketing, consumer behaviour, sustainable consumption,  marketing communications, with a particular interest in sustainable consumption practices within the food domain.

Dr Tanner's key area of research focuses on the application of consumer and social psychology theory and communication theory to support stakeholder behaviour change, primarily focused on changes to support the development of healthy and sustainable food systems. His areas of research interest include sustainable consumption, sustainable food systems, omni-channel communication, risk communication, consumer trust and marketing pedagogy. Dr Tanner's research aligns with UCC Futures thematic areas of Sustainability and Food Microbiome and Health along with and SDGs 3, 11 & 12. Dr Tanner has published extensively at leading marketing and interdisciplinary journals and conferences and his funded research includes collaboration with the Research Ireland VistaMilk Centre and the Co-Centre for Sustainable Food Systems.

Qualifications

Dr Tanner's areas of research interest include sustainable consumption, sustainable food systems, risk communication, consumer trust and SoTL. He is currently working on a number of externally funded projects related to sustainable food systems and adoption of sustainable products and practices within the food domain. Sean is working on a number of jointly funded projects, funded by bodies including Research Ireland, Teagasc, the Royal Irish Academy and University College Cork. As part of this work Dr Tanner is involved in two significant projects exploring sustainability transitions within the agri-food sector, considering behavioural and attitudinal factors at both end consumer and primary producer levels. As part of these projects Sean is working as part of both the Research Ireland VistaMilk Centre and the Co-Centre for Sustainable Food Systems. Additionally, Sean is responsible for supervision of a number of doctoral candidates, exploring areas including sustainable food consumption, sustainable transportation behaviours and farm diversification. Sean has published in leading marketing and interdisciplinary journals including Appetite, Journal of Research and Distribution Management, Journal of Industrial Marketing Management and Studies in Higher Education, Qualitative Research in Organisations and Management, as well as presenting at leading conferences such as The Academy of Marketing, The European Federation of Food Science and Technology and the AMS-World Marketing Congress.

Dr Tanner teaches in the areas of consumer behaviour, marketing, sustainability, marketing communications, international marketing and research methods. Modules co-ordinated in recent years include: 

• MG1002: Foundations of Marketing
• MG1006: Principles of Marketing in International Environments
• MG2003: Consumer Behaviour and Sustainable Consumption
• MG3013: Marketing Communications
• MG6407: International Marketing
• MG6408: Omnichannel Marketing Communications
• MG6820: Applied Research Project
• MG6830: Applied Research Project

Sean has also served as an Invited Gastprofessor (Guest Professor) in Georg Simon Ohm University of Applied Sciences, Nuremberg and has a number of accepted teaching related publications including cases, book chapters and peer-reviewed conference and journal outputs. 

University Roles

• Programme Co-Director: MSc Marketing (2024-present)
• Programme Co-Director: BComm International (2019-2022)

Committees

• Co-Chair: Academy of Marketing Conference (2025)
• Co-Chair: MSc Marketing Programme Academic Board of Studies (2022-present)
• Co-Chair: BSc International Business with Languages Working Group (2022)
• Co-Chair: BComm (International) Programme Academic Board of Studies (2019-2022)
• Reviewer: UCC Social Research Ethics Committee (2024-present)
• Reviewer: Department of Managment and Marketing MSc Programmatic Review Team (2025)
• Member: CUBS SSCC (2025-present)
• Member: CUBS ERS Committee (2025-present)
• Member: CUBS Athena Swan (2022)
• Member: CUBS PRME Working Group (2022-2025)
• Member: BSc Food Marketing and Entrepreneurship Programme Academic Board of Studies (2022-present)
• Member: MSc Strategic Marketing and Practice Programme Academic Board of Studies (2019-2021)
• Administrative Co-ordinator: European Masters in Food Science (2014-2019)

External Roles

• External Examiner: Technological University of the Shannon (2022-present)
• Judge: PRME UK and Ireland Student Writing Competition (2023)
• Judge: PRME Chapter UK and Ireland Seed Funding Competition for Developing Innovative Pedagogies and Teaching Practices in PRME (2023-present)
• Reviewer: Journal of Retail and Distribution Management; Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing
• Guest-Editor: Journal of Marketing Management