Alison McGregor is an Associate Professor in Marketing and Sustainability in the University of Sussex Business School and Deputy Head of the Department of Strategy and Marketing. Her academic work is grounded in the scholarship of teaching and learning, responsible business education, and the integration of ethics and sustainability into marketing practice.

Alison’s teaching, leadership and scholarly interests focus on marketing ethics, sustainable marketing, responsible decision-making, and the development of students as reflective, ethically aware practitioners. She has a long-standing commitment to inclusive, principle-based pedagogy, employability-focused curriculum design, and the use of coaching-informed approaches to teaching, assessment and academic mentoring.

Her academic career is complemented by extensive senior-level professional experience in business consultancy, financial services and professional practice, which continues to inform her approach to teaching, assessment design and engagement with contemporary business challenges. This integration of professional practice and academic scholarship underpins her contribution to PRME-aligned education and to the development of responsible business leaders.

Since September 2023, Alison has served as Deputy Head of the Department of Strategy and Marketing. In this role she holds responsibility for academic resource allocation and workload management, and works closely with Faculty colleagues to shape course delivery, support staff wellbeing, and maintain high-quality teaching provision in a challenging sector context.

She previously served as Course Director for the MSc International Marketing (Online), the University of Sussex’s first fully online Master’s programme, leading its development from involvement with the learning platform design, leading the initial validation, through to delivery and enhancement, before relinquishing the role on appointment as Deputy Head of Department. Alison was actively engaged in supporting tutors in the skills needed to transfer teaching to online delivery during the challenging environment due to the pandemic.

With an extensive and long career in education, teaching, and professional development, Alison provides mentoring and developmental support to early-career researchers and teaching-focused colleagues across the University, particularly in areas of teaching practice, classroom management, assessment design, module development and student engagement. Alison is a regular contributor to the Business School Teaching and Learning Development Conferences. 

Alison is also co-Mentoring Lead for the University of Sussex Business School Faculty, where she is currently contributing to the development of an integrated Faculty Mentoring Framework to support peer development, career progression and wellbeing.

Her leadership approach is grounded in coaching principles, reflective practice and a strong commitment to collegiality, inclusion and professional development across the academic community. 

Earlier in her career at Sussex, Alison held responsibility for business engagement and external relations, working with senior colleagues to develop partnerships with local and national organisations, support employer engagement, and contribute to the establishment of the Business School’s first Advisory Board. This work focused on translating academic research into accessible, practice-relevant insights and strengthening the School’s external impact, priorities that have since become central to contemporary responsible business education agendas.