Alice RIOU is an Associate Professor of marketing at emlyon business school (since 2007), and a member of the Lifestyle Research Center. She ran a digital hiking agency for 20 years and she received multiple Pedagogy Awards. She received a Master of Research from Université Jean Moulin Lyon III and an Executive PhD in Marketing from Université Paris Dauphine PSL.

Her doctoral project focused on key topics such as: the storytelling of the self, the students narrative identities, transformational experiences in business schools, heroic stories, brand storytelling, Edtechs and Moocs.

Inscribed in the literature of Consumer Culture Theory, this research mobilizes semiotic tools such as the narrative schema (Greimas, 1966; Floch, 1990) and the semiotic square of consumer values (Floch, 1989) by relying on Paul Ricoeur’s theory of narrative identity (1985) to qualitatively analyze autobiographical narratives.

Besides her thesis, she studies and teaches fashion-related phenomena dealing with the place of the human body in the society and the ethics behind it :  Body positivism and food, gender and cosmetical trends, greenwashing and fashion, synthetic diamonds in the jewerly industry, metaverse and Web3, connected health and transhumanism… are among her favorite topics.

RIOU A., (2023) “Saint Valentin : la face cachée des diamants de synthèse”,  The Conversation, https://theconversation.com/saint-valentin-la-face-cachee-du-diamant-de-synthese-198685

RIOU A., (2023) « The Storytelling of the Self – Understanding the Identity Transformation Experience of Business School Students », Executive PhD thesis, under the supervision of: Pierre VOLLE. Head of the jury: Isabelle COLLIN-LACHAUD.

RIOU A., (2020) “Edtechs, where will they fit in the Post-Covid world ?”,  The Conversation, https://theconversation.com/edtechs-quelle-place-dans-le-monde-dapres-132713

RIOU A., (2020) “ ParcourSup, what a tough guidance tool !”, The Conversation, https://theconversation.com/parcoursup-un-gps-de-lorientation-post-bac-pas-si-facile-a-manier-122436 

RIOU A., (2019) “Higher Education guidance: what about the French platform ParcourSup ?”, The Conversation, https://theconversation.com/formations-post-bac-parcoursup-le-choix-de-linscription-a-la-carte-122438