Dr Gemma Calvert
Gemma Calvert worked in the marketing and advertising industry as a Senior Account Executive from 1987 – 1991 before returning to academe to undertake a BSc in Social Psychology at the London School of Economics. Her doctoral work, completed in 1997 at the University of Oxford, involved the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study the neural basis of audio-visual interactions in the human brain. Over the next 7 years, she built and ran a lab based in the FMRIB Imaging Centre and the Department of Physiology at the University of Oxford funded by the MRC and Wellcome Trust into the neural basis of multisensory integration – including work involving olfaction, flavour perception and how visual images (colours; packaging etc) can influence what we hear, feel, smell and taste.
In 1997, Dr Calvert established the world’s first Neuromarketing Consultancy Company, Neurosense Limited, which has undertaken numerous fMRI studies for clients in the advertising, marketing and pharmaceutical industries. Dr Calvert remains a principal consultant for the firm and has been advising clients (including Unilever, Viacom Brand Solutions, GMTV, Omnicom, Quest International and McDonald’s Europe) about how the brain responds to products/fragrances, brand extensions, packaging design and marketing messages (advertising and expectation management).
Dr Calvert was recently awarded a grant to fund a Great Western Research Fellow to work alongside her in the field of Neuroeconomics: predicting irrational consumer decision-making. She is also in the process of applying for an ESRC grant to work on the emotional component of advertising with Dr Robert Heath in the School of Management; and on the neural consequences of pricing structure with Dr Marco Bertini at the London Business School. Dr Calvert has also just been asked to edit a special edition of the International Journal of Advertising focusing on advertising and neuroscience.