Prof Shaun Borstrock PhD FRSA
Conference Curator · Founder, IPOL

Shaun Borstrock spends his career asking an uncomfortable question, do luxury brands actually deliver what they promise? Are they luxury?, or do they just ‘perform’ well? As Professor of Luxury and Consumer Culture and Head of Knowledge Exchange and Research at Ravensbourne University London and founder of In Pursuit of Luxury, he draws a hard line between luxury brands as fashion and luxury as an idea rooted in sustainability, craftsmanship and lasting value. His framework, LuxWashing, interrogates the gap between brand claims and material reality, tracing supply chains back to their true environmental and human cost rather than their story. He pushes brands past decorative sustainability claims toward genuinely regenerative practice. He advises luxury brands directly, co developed the world’s first fully customisable 3D printed textile, and has spent over twenty years moving between academia, consultancy and industry without losing his edge in any of them. 

Guido Dal Pozzo
Conference Curator, Associate Editor Luxury Studies: The In Pursuit of Luxury Journal

Guido Dal Pozzo is a Course Leader and Senior Lecturer in Marketing at Ravensbourne University London and a PhD researcher at the University of Portsmouth. Their working doctoral thesis, “Brand Honesty Beyond Authenticity: A Relational, Crisis, and Digital Communication Perspective”, reconceptualises brand honesty as a multidimensional relational capability using mixed-methods across three papers examining consumer and practitioner stakeholders. Their research addresses the field’s overreliance on consumer-centric studies by investigating how practitioners construct and enact honesty in crisis communication and digital fashion contexts. Current work includes experimental studies testing relational honesty as a predictor of consumer trust and commitment against established authenticity and transparency scales. They have published a systematic literature review on brand honesty, with additional papers under review. Their teaching focuses on marketing and brand communication, supervising MSc research while integrating contemporary brand theory with digital practice. Methodological expertise spans qualitative interviews, thematic analysis, and survey-experiments.

Manuel Polanco
Conference Curator, Associate Editor Luxury Studies: The In Pursuit of Luxury Journal

Manuel Polanco is a luxury expert, his expertise spans luxury brand strategy and marketing focusing on design, arts and lifestyle industries. He is the founder of YZ ZALIA, a luxury single-origin coffee brand shaped by English makers and artistry. His scholarly interests are market-oriented, centring on the construction of value in the luxury sector. As an entrepreneur, Manuel has built and managed an investments portfolio internationally. He serves as a non-executive director in different organisations. His earlier career spans leadership roles with Fortune 500 and European blue-chip companies. Beyond his professional work, Manuel is an active patron of the arts, supporting cultural causes and institutions. His engagement with the art world and culture reflects a long-standing commitment to the intersection of craft, heritage and contemporary luxury.

Dr Kelly Meng
Conference Curator, Editor Luxury Studies: The In Pursuit of Luxury Journal

Dr Kelly Meng is a Associate Professor in Luxury and Cultural Studies and Head of Subject for Business Management and Marketing at Goldsmiths, University of London. She has led the MA Luxury Brand Management programme since 2017. Her research spans luxury brand management, international business, and cultural industries, focusing on the future of luxury through craft, heritage, sustainability, and human-centred innovation. She also investigates luxury across the Global South, seeking to bring greater visibility to overlooked markets, cultural traditions, and knowledge systems, and to develop more culturally nuanced perspectives on the global luxury landscape. Her current research examines how traditional craftsmanship can be sustained and repositioned within contemporary luxury markets. Before joining academia, Kelly held senior managerial positions within the international luxury and retail sectors. She serves on the Community Advisory Group of the Goldsmiths’ Centre, supporting initiatives that promote craft skills, education, inclusion, and emerging entrepreneurs.