Alexandra Hanford

Biography

Course Leader MA International Fashion Business As a Course Leader, Alexandra provides academic leadership by undertaking and supporting programme development for the MA International Fashion Business course. She is responsible for the strategic direction and operational management of the MA IFB course. Alexandra contributes to the teaching and supervision of students at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. This entails the design of lecture programmes and the supporting seminars and tutorials. She also undertakes marking, assessment and examination work, and the provision of feedback to students. It is Alexandra's responsibility to embed university quality standards throughout the course. Alexandra actively builds and maintains industry links to retain the relevancy of the curriculum, and to underpin student employability. This also provides her with opportunities to identify, procure and engage in commercial activities for third stream income. For example she wrote and delivered a short course in Hong Kong for Lei and Fung management trainees. Alexandra undertakes subject related research to inform the course curriculum and wider subject area. Alexandra aims to motivate and support staff working on the MA IFB. Alexandra's role also enables her to support the ATL in the operational leadership of the FMMC subject area, she organised the FMMC stand at Graduate Fashion Week in June this year. This entailed producing a budget, commissioning and coordinating the design and build of the stand, and managing the exhibit and the staff / student rota. Alexandra is responsible for writing marketing material to communicate the course to prospective students, and for the recruitment of new students. Alexandra identifies marketing initiatives to increase the course profile. She commissioned a short film this year which was shown at the MA Expo and will shortly be available on YouTube. As Course Leader Alexandra undertakes a pastoral role to support the students on my course, many of whom are international. Alexandra prepares, organises and assists with student cultural visits, exhibitions, field trips and placements as appropriate. Alexandra represents the FMMC subject area at the School of Art and Design SASQ meetings. This provides her with the opportunity to contribute to quality and standards issues at a more strategic level.

Research Interest

Alexandra undertakes on-going research to update her knowledge of contemporary and entrepreneurial developments in the fashion and textiles industry. This encompasses a very wide range of fields including advances in technology and products, new systems and process design, and innovations in marketing and communications. This research feeds directly into her teaching material at NTU. On a more personal level, Alexandra is particularly interested in colour forecasting for a global industry: how culture and climate influence national preferences in the interpretation of global fashion colour trends.