John Boddy

Head of Fashion & Textiles

John Boddy is Head of Fashion & Textiles at Falmouth University, providing academic, creative and strategic leadership across a broad portfolio including Fashion Design, Fashion Styling & Art Direction, Fashion Marketing, Fashion Photography, Textile Design, Costume Design for Film & Television, and Sustainable Fashion. He has held leadership roles at the University since 2007, becoming Head of Subject in 2014.

John is a graduate of Central Saint Martins and holds a PGCHE with HEA Fellowship. Alongside his academic leadership, he is an Academic Staff Member of Falmouth University’s Board of Governors and Trustee for the Devonshire Collection of Period Costume, a major initiative relocating and reimagining a collection of over 17,000 historic garments within an academic context.
His teaching, research and leadership are underpinned by a strong commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion. John has led institutional initiatives focused on decolonising the curriculum, belonging, and inclusive pedagogies. He is currently undertaking a PhD by Published Works exploring ‘Conscious Practice’ and the decentring of whiteness within fashion education.

Before entering academia, John built an extensive industry career spanning fashion design, pattern cutting, costume and theatre, including work with Alexander McQueen, the Royal National Theatre, the BBC, and his own womenswear brand. This professional experience continues to inform his approach to practice-based learning, industry collaboration and future-facing fashion education.

External Links

Boddy

Contact details

Email john.boddy@falmouth.ac.uk

    Qualifications

    Qualifications

    Year Qualification Awarding body
    2009 PGCHE Falmouth University
    1997 BA(Hons) Fashion Design Central Saint Martins

    Honors and awards

    Year Description
    2016

    Staff Excellence Award: Best Employer Engagement Initiative

    Membership of external committees

    Fellow of HEA

    Research Interests

    Research interests and expertise

    John’s research addresses fashion pedagogy, decolonisation and equality-led curriculum transformation, with a particular focus on ‘Conscious Practice’ as a framework for decentring dominant cultural values within higher education. His work interrogates the responsibilities of white academics in advancing anti-racist pedagogy through coalition with Black and minoritised colleagues, contributing to sector-wide discourse on belonging, curriculum justice and institutional change. Alongside this, he undertakes practice-based research into human–AI collaboration in fashion design, examining how artificial intelligence intersects with material intuition, pattern cutting and form-making.

    Research topics

    • Fashion pedagogy
    • Curriculum decolonisation
    • Conscious Practice
    • Anti-racist education
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Belonging and coalition
    • Sustainable fashion education
    • Human–AI collaboration in design
    • Pattern cutting and tacit knowledge
    • Material culture and dress history
    • Fashion archives

    Areas of teaching

    My teaching is conceptually driven and aesthetically led, encouraging students to develop a confident critical voice and a refined sensitivity to fashion and textile culture. I emphasise fashion and textiles as both creative disciplines and cultural practices, situating studio work within wider historical, social and global contexts. Through an inclusive and intellectually ambitious approach, I support students to explore questions of identity, value, sustainability and authorship, and to position their work thoughtfully within contemporary creative and cultural landscapes.

    Research Outputs

    Publications and research outputs

    • Boddy, John and Fourth Element Limited

      (2016), Knowledge Transfer Partnership Final Report: Fourth Element/Falmouth University, Cornwall, (Submitted), Item availability may be restricted.

    • Boddy, John, Johnson, Frances, El-Hadidi, Ibrahim and Applied Inspiration

      (2022), Evaluating "belonging": exploring student and staff experiences of cultivating diverse, inclusive and conscious approaches to creative practice, In: Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Conference 2023: The Shoulders of Giants: Listening, Learning and Improving our Practice, 15-16 March 2023, Hull, UK, (Unpublished)

    Policy engagement within Cornwall

    Engagement with organisations which contribute to the development of educational, cultural or socio-economic policies in Cornwall

    • Academic Governor: Falmouth University Board of Governors
    • Trustee: Devonshire Collection of Period Costume at Falmouth University