Malaika Brengman

Malaika Brengman serves as a Senior Lecturer and postdoctoral researcher at the Free University of Brussels, specializing in consumer behavior within retail contexts. Her academic work bridges Communication Sciences, Business Studies, and Media Innovation through interdisciplinary research on digital retail environments.

Her research focuses on consumer decision-making processes in physical and virtual retail spaces, with particular expertise in trust formation, digital signage effectiveness, and the psychological impact of emerging technologies. Key interests include:

• How virtual worlds influence retail appeal and consumer threat perception
• The relationship between store environment design and initial trust development
• Implicit measurement techniques for assessing service experiences
• Consumer responses to AI-driven personalization in retail settings

Analysis of her recent publications reveals a strong emphasis on augmented reality applications, vaccine attitude segmentation, and social media addiction pathways, demonstrating methodological diversity across behavioral experiments and large-scale consumer surveys.

Her scientific contributions have been recognized through multiple awards including the Best Conference Paper Award (2010), Best Extended Abstract Award (2020), and a Highly Commended Paper distinction (2016). These accolades highlight her impact in retail technology and consumer psychology research.

Brengman actively supervises doctoral candidates and serves on PhD committees, with documented supervision of at least 153 academic works. She frequently engages with media as an expert on consumer finance topics, particularly regarding energy pricing impacts and savings behaviors during economic uncertainty. Her current projects include Brubotics (human-centered robotics) and SHALGO (algorithmic systems research).

She maintains significant external engagement through advisory roles in consumer protection initiatives and regular media commentary on retail trends and consumer behavior patterns.