Dr Charlene Gallery
Committee Member

Charlene Gallery is a Reader in Digital Fashion Innovation at the University of Manchester, where she serves as the Employability Lead and Senior Line Manager within the School of Materials. Her research explores the intersection of fashion, technology, and digital innovation, with a particular focus on circular product development, digital sustainability, and the democratisation of digital design technologies within fashion practice and material culture. As the founder of the AI in Fashion Consortium, Charlene collaborates with global and national organisations to advance the integration of material-led design technologies in creative industries.

At the heart of Charlene’s academic practice is the belief that creative expression is a powerful form of activism—an agent for change that reclaims space, challenges dominant narratives, and reconfigures access to industry and education. Her approach is grounded in open access, emancipatory education, and decolonial methodologies, ensuring that learning environments foster critical engagement with industry transformation. As an active member of FACE: Fashion and Arts Creating Equity, she contributes to critical discourse on representation, decolonial curriculum development, and systemic change in higher education.

Charlene is the Principal Investigator on an Advance HE project exploring student knowledge exchange, examining how underrepresented and international students navigate and express cultural identity through creative consultancy in collaboration with industry. This work engages with alternative models of knowledge production, co-creation, and professional agency, positioning students as active contributors to industry rather than passive recipients of education. Her work on global initiatives, including the Digital Threads: First Nations Fashion Programme, reinforces her commitment to fostering equitable access to creative and technological education, ensuring that digital design technologies support cultural heritage, economic sustainability, and creative autonomy.

A recognised leader in digital fashion education, Charlene regularly speaks at industry summits and leads on the development of the AI in Fashion Symposium. Her publications, including Fashion Business and Digital Transformation (Routledge, 2024) and Artificial Intelligence in Fashion: Transforming the Industry through Sustainable Innovation, highlight her expertise in technology-driven design education.

Charlene’s multidisciplinary approach bridges fashion culture, material science, and emerging technologies within what she defines as “hybrid design futures”—a fusion of creative practice, technological fluency, and scientific inquiry. Her advocacy for digital equity and innovative pedagogical strategies ensures that students and industry professionals alike are equipped to navigate the evolving creative and technological landscape.