Janet Coulter

Dr Janet Coulter is a Senior Lecturer in Fashion Design in the Belfast School of Art (AHSS). A Senior Fellow of Higher Education, Research Practice and an award-winning educator, she is the recipient of a Distinguished Fellow of Innovative Teaching Practice from Ulster University. Her award-winning projects with external partnerships have earned her a Rolls Royse Science Prize, and an Outstanding Award for Innovation with Intertrade Ireland. She has also received a Distinguished Fellow of Business and Enterprise from Ulster University.

Leadership experience:

Previous:

• Global Head of Fashion, Associate Professor School of Textile Design Heriot Watt, UK and Dubai
• Associate Executive Dean, Enterprise Partnerships, Heriot Watt, UK and Dubai
• Director Academic Enterprise, Faculty Art, Design & Built Environment, Ulster University
• Faculty Lead for E-Learning, Faculty Arts, Ulster University
• Course Director, Textiles and Fashion Design, Ulster University
• Course Director, Product Design, Ulster University

Industrial Leadership:

Janet has a breadth of leadership experience across academia and industry, with expertise in fashion design, technology, manufacturing, and operations. She has held international roles with Promostyl, Paris in global trend analysis and has managed fashion manufacturing teams across London and Ireland. Janet has built successful strategic supply-chain partnerships, led product design and development teams, and overseen major client portfolios including Dunnes, Debenhams, Boots, Mothercare, British Airways, and Shell Oil.

Innovation:

Janet has been PI on 8 KTP/KTIs and 8 innovation vouchers. Her diverse and successful partnerships have seen thermoplastic moulded bullet proof armour for female officers commercialised and deployed to Afghanistan. Notably, a cross-sector partnership to re-engineer animal bio-waste into fashion product enabled international markets to be established in Kuwait, Saudi and Korea, and resulted in her receiving an Outstanding Innovation Award from InterTrade Ireland.

Pedagogy and Scholarly Activity

Her innovative approaches to education have been recognised internationally and her work in addressing gender bias in STEM education through e-textiles earned her the Rolls Royce Science prize.

She is an external validator for multiple post-graduate programmes both in the UK and internationally. She has extensive experience in external examining and is currently external examiner of University of Arts, London and Robert Goron University Aberdeen.

Research Areas of interest:

• Fashion Technology for Health and Wellbeing; e-textiles sensors to read sub-conscious biomarkers of stress to self-manage mental wellbeing
• The role of digital fashion and generative AI in contributing to a more sustainable fashion production model
• The role of biomaterials for social prescribing and sustainable tourism
• The Hybridisation of Digital and Traditional Costume Practices as a Model for Heritage-Informed Innovation in the Screen Industry

Academic Qualifications

• PhD Fashion Technology 
• MBA
• MSc. Multimedia Computer Based Learning with Education
• Post Grad Dip. Higher Education  
• BA (Hons) Textile and Fashion Design

Professional Qualifications

• Senior Fellow of Higher Education Academy (SFHEA)
• Diploma in Leadership and Management (Dip.LM)
• Aurora alumna, Women in Leadership Programme
• Fellow of Higher Education and Research Practice (FCHERP)
• Member of Institute of Irish Designers (MIDI)