Academic and professional qualifications

Phoebe is a Senior Lecturer of Fashion Technology at the Manchester Metropolitan University. She is a creative and qualified Apparel Product Developer who has worked as a fashion model, design room coordinator and freelance fashion designer in London and USA, prior to embarking on an academic career in Manchester.

She currently teaches and supervises research projects at PhD, MSc /MA  and BSc /BA levels degree levels within the Faculty. Her subject unit leadership roles have included MSc Fashion Technology and BA/BSc Design Research, Development and Presentation. She has served as the Departmental Project Coordinator for Specific Apparel Design Development; and under her supervision MMU students have featured in top positions winning fashion design awards on competitive global platforms.

Previous Employment

Phoebe has always had a keen interest in creative apparel development and as a growing child used to make dolls clothes out of paper and fabric pieces that fell off her mother’s sewing table. As a young adult, she adopted an ‘alchemic’ approach to innovation (up-cycling) and would often craft out of superfluous materials and redundant accessories, shapely custom made clothes. As a fashion design and technology student, her final year collection was examined by the renowned British Designer Alexander McQueen, who selected her Nautical themed final design collection to take part in the National Graduate Fashion Week event at Earls Court, London. The range was later exhibited week-long as an exclusive collection within the main BHS store at the Whitgift Centre in Croydon, Greater London.

To combine her practical experience with educational qualifications, she studied for a postgraduate certificate and Bachelor’s degree in Education and Training at the University of Greenwich in London; and completed her master’s degree with distinction in Clothing Product Development, focussing her MSc thesis on Mass Customisation. She earned her doctoral degree at the Manchester Metropolitan University where she quested to develop a framework that equipped consumers with clothes that matched their image profiles, fitted their body shape and and also provided efficient garment fit. The research led to an encounter with body scanning technology for sizing and garment fit. Her sustained interest in technology and in interrogating body size variation led to her establishment of the Faculty’s first Anthropometric laboratory equipped with a state-of-the-art 3D body scanning technology for research and teaching. Application of scanning technology has since been key in promoting research collaborations within the university and external partners. It is also central to the Department of Apparel’s Research Knowledge Exchange and Enterprise activities with industry partners.  This was significant to the Department’s recent award for Excellence in Enterprise.

Phoebe was actively involved in primary data collection and analysis of UK’s first national children’s sizing survey using 3D body scanning technology [Shape GB].  As an invited guest, her lecturing experiences include Universities in Asia (China) and Africa (Ghana).

Postgraduate research supervision

PhD Projects Supervised/Directed:

• The Communication of Ethical Fashion Brands to Mainstream Consumers.
• Up-cycling: Can Sustainable Design solutions reduce UK Clothing and Textile Waste?
• Global Artisanship and the Future of the Luxury Fashion Market.
• Utilising Landmark Definition to improve Body Surface Measuring Accuracy and Garment Fit for Mature Women.
• Evaluation and Development of Compression Garments for Sportswear using 3D Body Scanning and CAD Technology.
• Apparel Product Marketing Communications in M-Retail and Consumer.
• Development of a Concept for a Database System for Machine and Seam sew-ability.
• Development of Smart Textiles to Neutralise non-ionising Radiation.
• AQL-Based Sampling for Garment Inspection in Malaysian Garment Manufacturing: A Quality Assurance Framework.
• Utilisation of 3D Body Scanning as a Research Tool for Establishing efficient Bra Fit.
• The Potential, Performance and Behaviour of Auxetic Textile Materials for Swimwear Application.

External examiner roles

External Examiner for Research Degrees [PhD, MPhil, MSc & MA]

Projects and initiatives

Currently working on research projects related to compression sportswear, anthropometrics and application of 3D body scanning to establish efficient fit.

As well as collaboration with academics in the Department of Health Professions on gerontology and developing synergy effect in garment product design, also working in collaboration with tourism academics on a research project to develop systems that enhance knowledge of British fashion history and enrich tourist experiences of Costume Galleries and Museums.

Recent team projects have included the application of 3D body scanning procedures in sizing for high street Fashion. These have been in collaboration with major fashion retailers including ASOS; and have focussed on male and female consumers. The ASOS project was declared a winner and received an internal MMU Knowledge Exchange Award for the Department of Apparel – Hollings Faculty.

Prizes and awards

• PhD in Apparel Fit Analysis and Fashion Technology
• MSc in Clothing Product Development
• BA (Hons) in Education and Training
• PGCE [Primary focus: Post Compulsory Education & Training]
• CText ATI [Chartered Member of The Textile Institute International]

Membership of professional associations

• Council Member of The Textile Institute, Charted Institute for Textiles, Clothing & Footwear. Section board member for the Manchester & Cheshire Division, UK.
• Section Committee Member of The Textile Institute, Manchester & Cheshire Division, UK.
• Core Member of Research Centre Management Group: Apparel Research Group (ARG), Manchester. UK. 
• Member of the Strategic Management Board, Manchester Institute for Research & Innovation in Art & Design (MIRIAD) UK.
• Member of Faculty Research Degrees Committee, Manchester Metropolitan University.