Staff Profile
Reader in Fashion Technologies
My background in creative pattern cutting has inspired my interest in the ways digitalisation in industry and education are changing garment development processes. Since 2009 I have conducted research into people’s bodily and sensory experience of virtual textiles and digital garment design practices, focussing particularly on touch. Now, as Reader in Fashion Technologies at Manchester Fashion Institute I am developing my UCL Doctoral research in haptics to support garment development, exploring the mapping and translation of designers’ touch practices into virtual spaces and collaborative robotic systems.
I have previously held research and teaching posts at several of London’s world renowned fashion schools, leading the development and delivery of specialist units and international collaborative projects exploring digital fashion and wearable technology.
Academic and professional qualifications
- PhD, IOE - UCL's Faculty of Education and Society, University College London, United Kingdom
My UCL Doctoral thesis sits at the intersection of social science, sensory studies and Human Computer Interaction (HCI), working with ethnography and prototype textile touch sensors to explore designers’ use of touch during garment development, along with the possibility to digitally support their touch practices.
- PG Cert Academic Practice for Art Design and Communication, University of the Arts London, United Kingdom
- MA Digital Fashion, London College of Fashion (LCF), University of the Arts London, United Kingdom
- BA Hons. Fashion, Middlesex University, United Kingdom
- Staff and Educational Development Association (SEDA), Professional Development Award in Supervising Postgraduate Research
Previous Employment
Before joining Manchester Fashion Institute I worked at London College of Fashion (LCF) for over a decade as a Research Fellow, Research Coordinator and specialist lecturer in Fashion Wearable Technology. I have also held research roles at the Royal College of Art, Central Saint Martins and Brunel University, along with teaching roles at the Royal College of Art and Chelsea College of Arts.
Prior to embarking on an academic career, I was a creative pattern cutter, working with a diverse range of companies, from large international luxury brands to SME and micro businesses whose production focused on sustainability and upcycling.
Academic service (administration and management)
I previously served on the LCF College Research Committee, overseeing research standards and ethics for staff and Doctoral student projects. I was also a member of the University of the Arts London (UAL) Peer Review College, providing internal reviews and quality oversight for UKRI and European research funding applications.
Postgraduate research supervision
I am a SEDA accredited Postgraduate supervisor, with considerable experience supervising Masters level research exploring fashion and technology. I am an external PhD supervisor at LCF and currently have one completed PhD student:
Rees, K. (2022) Somatosensory wearable technology in the dance making process: investigating digital touch in the formation of creative movement and kinaesthetic awareness. London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London.
I welcome enquiries from any potential PhD and MRes students.
Exhibitions
- Featured in Energy Revolution: The Adani Green Energy Gallery at The Science Museum, London (opening 2024), discussing energy generating wearable technology.
Media appearances or involvement
- Panelist on Brazil Immersive Fashion Week 2021's Immersive Talks, discussing 'The Internet of Skin: wearable technology and smart fabrics'.
Prizes and awards
I was the recipient of a European Research Council (ERC) bursary for my Doctoral studies and a Harold Tillman Scholarship for my Masters studies, awarded by the former Director of the British Fashion Council.
Membership of professional associations
- Higher Education Academy, Fellowship
Research
Research Interests
My key research interests include garment design and making processes, as mediated or quantified by digital technology, Sensory Studies, and Human Computer Interaction (HCI), with a particular focus on wearable technology and haptics. I have often worked in interdisciplinary teams of designers, computer scientists, social scientists and psychologists. As a result, I am well versed in a variety of research methods and epistemological stances, as well as their potential synergy in mixed methods research designs. My specialisms include contemporary ethnographic methods and design research through prototyping, participatory workshops and gamification of data capture.
Expert reviewer for journals and publishers
- The Association of Computer Machinery (ACM)
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- Fashion Practice: The Journal of Design, Creative Process & the Fashion Industry
- Sage Journals, including 'Multimodality and Society' and 'Visual Communication'
Books
Jewitt, C., Price, S., Leder Mackley, K., Yiannoutsou, N., Atkinson, D., 2020. 'Interdisciplinary Insights for Digital Touch Communication', Springer International Publishing.
Book Chapters
Jewitt, C., Leder Mackley, K., Atkinson, D., Price, S., 2020. 'Rapid Prototyping for Social Science Research'. In Pauwels, L., Mannay, D. (eds.) The SAGE Handbook of Visual Research Methods, pp. 534-550, SAGE Publications Limited.
Atkinson, D., 2017. 'Post-industrial Fashion and the Digital Body'. In Broadhurst, S., Price, S. (eds.) Digital Bodies, pp. 147-160, Palgrave Macmillan UK, London.
Reports
Postlethwaite, S., Thiel, K., Atkinson, D., 2022. 'Reshoring UK Garment Manufacturing with Automation: Recommendations for Government', KTN Made Smarter, London.
Journal Articles
Atkinson, D., 2022. 'Book Review: The Handshake: A Gripping History', Multimodality and Society, 2 (3), pp. 323-326.
Jewitt, C., Price, S., Atkinson, D., Golmohammadi, L., 2022. 'Editorial', Multimodality & Society, 2 (3), pp. 203-212.
Price, S., Bianchi-Berthouze, N., Jewitt, C., Yiannoutsou, N., Fotopoulou, K., Dajic, S., Virdee, J., Zhao, Y., Atkinson, D., Brudy, F., 2022. 'The Making of Meaning through Dyadic Haptic Affective Touch', ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, 29 (3), pp. 1-42.
Mitchell, V., Wilson, GT., Leder Mackley, K., Jewitt, C., Golmohammadi, L., Atkinson, D., Price, S., 2020. 'Digital Touch: Towards a novel user-experience design pedagogy', Design and Technology Education, 25 (1), pp. 59-79.
Petreca, B., Saito, C., Baurley, S., Atkinson, D., Yu, X., Bianchi-Berthouze, N., 2019. 'Radically relational tools: A design framework to explore materials through embodied processes', International Journal of Design, 13 (2), pp. 7-20.
Atkinson, D., Baurley, S., Petreca, BB., Berthouze, NB., Watkins, P., 2016. 'The tactile triangle: a design research framework demonstrated through tactile comparisons of textile materials', J. of Design Research, 14 (2), pp. 142-142.
Singh, H., Bauer, M., Chowanski, W., Sui, Y., Atkinson, D., Baurley, S., Fry, M., Evans, J., Bianchi-Berthouze, N., 2014. 'The brain’s response to pleasant touch: an EEG investigation of tactile caressing', Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8 (November).
Conference Papers
Mitchell, V., Wilson, GT., Leder Mackley, K., Jewitt, C., Golmohammadi, L., Atkinson, D., Price, S., 2019. 'Digital Touch Experiences: Educating the Designers', EduCHI 2019: Global Perspectives on HCI Education, Glasgow, UK, 4/5/2019 - 4/5/2019, in https://educhi2019.hcilivingcurriculum.org/program/.
Atkinson, D., 2014. 'Making, emotion and the drive to re-shore UK garment manufacturing', Design and Emotion 2014: The Colors of Care, Bogota, Colombia, 6/10/2014 - 10/10/2014, in 9th International Conference on Design and Emotion 2014: The Colors of Care, pp. 127-130.
Petreca, B., Atkinson, D., Bianchi-Berthouze, N., Furniss, D., Baurley, S., 2014. 'The future of textiles sourcing: Exploring the potential for digital tools', Design and Emotion 2014: The Colors of Care, Bogota, Colombia, 6/10/2014 - 10/10/2014, in 9th International Conference on Design and Emotion 2014: The Colors of Care, pp. 366-377.
Petreca, B., Bianchi-Berthouze, N., Baurley, S., Watkins, P., Atkinson, D., 2013. 'An Embodiment Perspective of Affective Touch Behaviour in Experiencing Digital Textiles', 2013 Humaine Association Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction (ACII), 2/9/2013 - 5/9/2013, in 2013 Humaine Association Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction, pp. 770-775.
Atkinson, D., 2013. 'Applying Technology Adoption Models to UK High-End SMEs', Digital Fashion 2013, London, UK, 16/5/2013 - 17/5/2013, in Proceedings of Digital Fashion 2013. London: University of the Arts London, pp. 1-11.
Atkinson, D., Orzechowski, P., Petreca, B., Bianchi-Berthouze, N., Watkins, P., Baurley, S., Padilla, S., Chantler, M., 2013. 'Tactile perceptions of digital textiles', CHI '13: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, in Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 1669-1678.
Pawel M, O., Padilla, S., Atkinson, D., Chantler, M., Baurley, S., Berthouze, N., Watkins, P., Petreca, B., 2012. 'Archiving and simulation of fabrics with multi-gesture interfaces', British Computer Society HCI 2012: People and Computers, Birmingham, UK, 12/9/2012 - 14/9/2012, in Proceedings of the 26th Annual BCS Interaction Specialist Group Conference on People and Computers, BCS-HCI 2012.
Hughes, L., Atkinson, D., Berthouze, N., Baurley, S., 2012. 'Crowdsourcing an emotional wardrobe', CHI '12: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, in CHI '12 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 231-240.
Atkinson, D., Watkins, P., Padilla, S., Chantler, M., Baurley, S., 2011. 'Synthesising design methodologies for the transmission of tactile qualities in digital media', Digital Engagement 2011, Newcastle, UK, 15/11/2011 - 17/11/2011.
Wu, D., Wu, T-I., Singh, H., Padilla, S., Atkinson, D., Bianchi-Berthouze, N., Chantler, M., Baurley, S., 2011. 'The Affective Experience of Handling Digital Fabrics: Tactile and Visual Cross-Modal Effects', 2011 Humaine Association Conference on Affective Comuting and Intelligent Interaction (ACII), Memphis, TN, USA, 9/10/2011 - 12/10/2011, in Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), 6974 LNCS (PART 1), pp. 427-436.
Orzechowski, PM., Atkinson, D., Padilla, S., Methven, TS., Baurley, S., Chantler, M., 2011. 'Interactivity to enhance perception', MobileHCI '11: 13th International Conference on Human Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services, in Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Human Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services, pp. 629-634.
Theses and Dissertations
Atkinson, D., 2022. 'Tailoring Digital Touch: An ethnography of designers’ touch practices during garment prototyping and the potential for their digitisation'.
Office Location
Room 216
Cavendish South
Manchester Fashion Institute
Manchester Metropolitan University
Cavendish Street
Manchester M15 6BG