I joined the University for the Creative Arts (UCA) in 2020, having previously served as Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Chichester, Dean of Creative and Cultural Industries at the University of Portsmouth, Dean of the Arts and Digital Industries at the University of East London, head of the School of Architecture and Design at the University of Brighton, and variously at Goldsmiths, Central Saint Martins, and the Royal College of Art.

I was educated at the University of Ulster, Belfast, achieving a First-Class Honours degree in Constructed Textiles, and completing my Ford Motors-funded PhD as part of the Engineering Composites Research Group. I later completed an MA in Textiles at Goldsmiths' College, University of London, and both a PG Certificate in HE Learning and Teaching (with Distinction) and Staff and Educational Development Association (SEDA) training in Supervising Research Degrees in Art and Design at the University of the Arts, London. I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and completed the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education's Top Management programme.

I am an internationally exhibited visual artist, published writer and researcher, and editor of TEXTILE: Cloth and Culture.