Astrid Van den Bossche is Senior Lecturer in Computational Consumer Culture at the Department of Digital Humanities, King’s College London. She is also the Post-graduate ASB (Exam Board) Chair at DDH.

Prior to joining DDH, she was a Lecturer and Director of Learning and Teaching at the Institute of Management, Goldsmiths. She completed her DPhil at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, and holds a BA in Liberal Arts from University College Maastricht, a MSt in Film Aesthetics from the University of Oxford, and a MSc in Management from London Business School. She also has experience as a brand strategist.

Astrid specialises in taking computational approaches to studying consumer culture, focusing on how people and organisations strategically engage with their economic contexts. Her work spans advertising and marketing histories to the study of contemporary digital platforms and culture.

Astrid also explores how children engage with the digital economy and aims to contextualise this within a historical perspective on economic enculturation. She is particularly interested in children’s economic agency, as well as the development of economic and consumer knowledge through fiction and play. In January 2027, Astrid will undertake a Digital Futures Institute Fellowship (Education) on the topic ‘What’s at stake in digital childhood?’

Astrid convenes the 'Enchantments in the History of Capitalism' research network with Professor Anat Rosenberg and Dr Kristof Smeyers.

Together with Dr Alessandro Gandini and Dr Alessandro Caliandro, Astrid has recently launched a discussion forum for scholars interested in Computational Consumer Culture.

Research interests and PhD supervision

• Computational and digital approaches to understanding consumer and promotional cultures
• Marketing history and theory
• Digital childhood and youth, especially in relation to economic enculturation and agency

Teaching

Astrid teaches across topics in programming, social media marketing, and digital childhood. Her preferred teaching method draws on 'Problem Based Learning', which she adapts as required to suit the needs of her students.