Senior Lecturer with over 20 years of experience in textile technology and high-performance apparel

I design and deliver high-quality learning and teaching in these areas, coordinating Fashion Textiles for both undergraduate and postgraduate taught students within the department and across faculties. As a technologist, I am particularly interested in the effects of smart materials on sports, focusing on injury prevention, performance, and wellbeing.

I am involved in transformational research with a worldwide impact on female knee injuries. My research includes the design and development of knee braces specifically for females, and I am experimenting with mechanical metamaterials to create a novel adaptive knee brace.

Academic and professional qualifications

PhD in Textile Surface Engineering
Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA)
Chartered Technologist, Fellow Member of the Textile Institute (CText FTI)
Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PGC-AP)
BSc (Hons) Textile Technology and Design

Membership of professional associations

Core member of the Wearables Group, Manchester Fashion Institute, MMU, UK.
Council member of the Textile Institute, Chartered Institute for Textiles, Clothing and Footwear.
Section committee member of the Manchester & Cheshire Division of the TI, UK.
Member of the UK Metamaterials Network
Scientific Member of International Sports Engineering Association (ISEA)

Undergraduate teaching

Level 4: Fashion Production
Level 5: Range Building & Fashion Product  
Level 6: Fashion Design and Technology Innovation & Major Project

Postgraduate teaching

Level 7: Digital and Materials Innovation

Postgraduate research supervision

Current PhD Students

Beecroft, M., 3D printing ‘knitted’ textiles based structures that exhibit the flexibility, stretch and strength of tradition textile, part-time PhD commenced January 2017

Completed PhD Students

Dove, T., 2022 Development of an Optimised Garment Sizing System with Bust Cup Size integration, PhD.

Arafat, B., 2022 Development of modernised wedding costume capturing Palestinian heritage, PhD.

Moroney, C., 2020 The Application of Auxetic Structures for Rugby Shoulder Padding, PhD.

Hatley, N., 2021 The impact of fast fashion, consumer behaviour and fashion brands communication on sustainability, Masters by Research.

Perkin, T., 2019 Investigation of Insect Bite Hypersensitivity IBH and Pruritus in Equids and Research into the Concept of a Smart Textile Delivery Systems to Treat the Condition Masters by Research.

Hodson, J., 2019 The Collaborative buyer and supplier relationship (BSR) applied to the product development stage in the contemporary UK fast fashion and rapid fashion market, Masters by Research.

Yusof, N., 2018 Human-Focussed Quality Management (HFQM) Framework towards performance excellence for Malaysian ready-to-wear Garment Industry, July, PhD.

Appointed PhD Internal Examiner:
Science & Engineering Department: Finite Element Modelling Of Padded Clothing in Rugby, 2021, PhD.

Research

Research Interests

My research is in the field of smart materials for the prevention of knee injuries in sports. Collaborate with a number of sport engineers, medical practitioners and industry. Work with the fashion industry to provide consultation and testing for both functional and performance wear.

Academic collaborations
2024 - Present: Core Member of the ‘Musculoskeletal Health and Movement interest group meeting’ University-wide.
2022 - Present: Scientific committee member for the International Sports Engineering Association (ISEA).
2022 - Present: Efficacy of knee braces. The aim is to design an adaptable knee brace (joint project with Dr Tom Allen, Department of Engineering and Professor Emma Hodson-Tole, Department of Life Sciences).
2021 - Present: Panel member to review the body padding requirements of World Rugby Regulation 12 and the associated Performance Specification Padding for Females Athletes (World Rugby, Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Sheffield).
2021 - Present: Core Member of the ‘Sports Engineering Research Team’ within Science and Engineering. University-wide.

Conference organisation

Manchester and the North-West - ‘Textile Institute 3rd Student Conference’ - Wednesday 23rd November 2021
‘Textile & Life’ 2 Conferences for PGR/T student bodies. Wednesday 21st November 2019
‘Inspire’ why fashion research matter - Lead Organiser at Manchester Fashion Institute, Wednesday 9th May 2018
‘Textiles and Life’ Conference for PGR/T student bodies, Wednesday 22nd November 2017

* Textile Institute Conferences are aimed at both national and international postgraduate students to share their research.

Expert reviewer for journals and publishers

Article Reviewer: Sports Engineering Journal; Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management; Journal of The Textile Institute; Textile Research Journal.
Book Reviewer: Bloomsbury UK; Taylor & Francis (CRC)

Grants

2025: The Dowager Countess Eleanor Peel Trust ‘Medical grant’: Female perception and biomechanical analysis of knee braces: towards the design of more functional and comfortable orthopaedic solutions (with Drs Allen, Brown, Roldan-Cuidad, Professor Hodson-Tole), (£25,000, pending)

2024: UK Metamaterials Small Grant, EPSRC: An anatomical female knee surrogate for testing metamaterials knee brace concepts (with Drs Allen, Duncan and Winwood), (£5000, awarded)

2024 & 2022: UCRKE, small project funding: Adaptable knee brace to reduce the risk of injury in both sporting and physical activity (with Dr Tom Allen and Professor Emma Hodson-Tole), (£3,000, awarded).

2022 - 2023: ANSYS FOR TEACHING funding: Group Engineering Project: Engineering simulation with Ansys software for real-life scenarios (with Dr Tom Allen), ($5,000, awarded).

Projects

• Adaptable Knee brace. Consumer analysis of injuries, exercise and sport. 
• Assessing fabric fatigue/degradation of sports bras.
• To contribute to the development of a virtual fabric library within CLO3D. The virtual library may also sit alongside other creative software, namely Browzwear and Optitex.