Our staff

Zoë Hillyard

Senior Lecturer

Graduating in Embroidery, Zoë Hillyard’s career has combined part-time lecturing with a range of other roles; initially producing embellished knitwear for the fashion industry and later designing tailored knitwear collections for Marion Foale. An interest in the role of craft production as a livelihood strategy saw Zoë...

Sophie Johnson

Lecturer - PR and Marketing

Sophie graduated in 2011 from Birmingham City University on the former BA (Hons) Fashion Retail Management course. She began her career working for the fast fashion brand In Love With Fashion, managing their online promotions, including social media, digital marketing, influencer marketing and website management. Sophie then...

Clare Langford

Lecturer in Textile Design

Clare Langford is currently third year coordinator of the Textile Design Programme and teaches Constructed Textiles on L5 (second year) and L6 (third year). Having graduated with a first class honours in Constructed Textiles (specialising in weave) Clare went on to win a number of awards including an RSA Design Award which...

Sabine Lettman

Senior Lecturer

Sabine started teaching Fashion Design in 2015. Since then she taught Design, Concept Development, Dissertation and Sustainable Design Systems. In February 2018 she joined BCU as a VT to teach level 4 to level 6 students. Following this experience Sabine started to work as a part-time Senior Lecturer at BCU in 2019. With...

Louise Martin

Foundation Year Course Director

Louise’s Masters in textile design established the foundation for her design journey. From this platform, Louise started to build a career as an interior designer, regional design manager, stylist, and as a lecturer in fashion and textiles. Louise now has over 10 years' teaching experience as a lecturer. As a designer...

Dr. Dilusha Rajapakse

Lecturer in Textile Design

Dilusha is a Lecturer in Textile Design, and an active researcher in the areas of smart materials and dynamic textile design. Dilusha’s multidisciplinary practice-based research examine the fusion of smart materials and textile printing methods in order to integrate animated colour and pattern changing aesthetics onto...

Alison Rapsey

Course Director - BA (Hons) Fashion Business and Promotion

Alison has over 11 years of teaching experience joining Birmingham City University as a lecturer in Fashion Retail Management in 2006. Following her years of dedication to the department, in 2012 she became Course Director for BA(Hons) Fashion Business and Promotion. Alison began her work in the fashion industry by working...

Claire Ritchie

Course Director BA(Hons) Fashion Branding and Communication

Working as a fully inter-disciplinary practitioner, Claire has been exploring the interface of fashion and a range of allied disciplines spanning the commercial and conceptual design fields. Following initial studies in applied fashion design, she has been busy styling spaces and bodies since 1995. Claire's academic expertise...

Kelly-Marie Sifleet

Senior Technical Demonstrator

Kelly-Marie works for the School of Fashion and Textiles demonstrating a variety of practical skills to our students, including digital and screen printing techniques. She has a BA (Hons) degree in Textile Design (Surface Design) and a wealth of freelance experience teaching Screen Printing. Alongside a team of nine...