Dr Benjamin Afreh

Role

Dr Benjamin Afreh is a Research Fellow in the Department of Marketing at Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University, UK, and a member of the Marketing and Consumer Studies (MACS) Research Group. He is an academic who applies interdisciplinary knowledge from the management field (entrepreneurship, strategy, innovation, and marketing studies) and the broader social sciences (e.g., economics and development studies) to research themes in sustainable futures, global heritage, marketing management, and consumer studies. His recent research interests extend to entrepreneurship and (in)formality, institutional influences on entrepreneurial practices, SME digitalisation and internationalisation, sustainable business practices, artificial intelligence in marketing, consumer control, ethical consumption, and consumer vulnerability. His interdisciplinary research also examines maternal healthcare access and experiences, as well as food consumption and wellbeing among vulnerable consumer groups. Benjamin's research philosophy is grounded in social justice, respect and reciprocity, with a commitment to working collaboratively with marginalised and vulnerable communities, recognising their lived experiences and knowledge, involving them in shaping and interpreting research, and ensuring that research findings have meaningful value for the communities concerned.

Benjamin's role as a Research Fellow involves leading and supporting research projects in marketing and the broader management field. From September 2021 to 2025, he oversaw the activities of MACS on behalf of the Department of Marketing, coordinating research activities, organising academic events, preparing periodic reports for Nottingham Business School's Research and Innovation Committee (formerly the Research Strategy Group), and disseminating research and events through the group's communication platforms. He also served as the Department of Marketing's Research Coordinator during this period.

Benjamin has worked on funded research projects, including a £1.2 million innovation grant supported by Innovate UK and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and a £9,705 British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grant awarded in 2022 for his project, Improving Maternal Health in Africa (IMHELP). The project examines how gendered practices shape the legitimacy of informal healthcare providers and influence the provision of quality maternal healthcare in rural Ghana. Drawing on surveys and qualitative interviews with women receiving maternal healthcare and healthcare practitioners, the project seeks to contribute evidence to improving maternal health services in underserved rural communities.

Benjamin has experience in policy engagement, for example, in promoting innovation financing for early-stage enterprises in the creative industries in peripheral regions through policies and funding mechanisms intended to improve these enterprises' access to public funding programmes (such as Innovate UK and ERDF innovation voucher schemes and Arts Council England's Digital R&D Fund for the Arts) and alternative sources (for example, crowdfunding and blockchain platforms). His practitioner engagement includes co-created research, invited presentations, and workshops with entrepreneurs, investors, value-chain partners, government institutions, and local communities (including Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, ERDF South West, the Ghana Revenue Authority, and Ghana's Registrar-General's Department).

Career overview

Benjamin currently teaches Fundamentals of Marketing at Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University. He has previously worked as a research and/or teaching assistant at Arts University Bournemouth (2020–2021), the University of Sheffield (2015–2019), the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research, University of Ghana (2013–2015), and the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex (2012–2013). At the University of Sheffield, Benjamin contributed to teaching and learning quality, tutoring modules such as Enterprise and Entrepreneurship, Business Strategy, Finance for Engineers, and International Business Management study skills. He has also provided pastoral and academic support to master's students undertaking their dissertations.