Keynote Speeches

Dr. Jung Ha-Brookshire

Professor, University of Missouri, USA & President, International Textile and Apparel Association

“Envisioning Textile and Apparel Research Agendas for Sustainable Future”

Dr. Jung E. Ha-Brookshire isa professor and the Department Chair of Textile and Apparel Management at the University of Missouri. Prior to her time at MU, she worked as a sourcing manager in New York City for over 8 years, extensively traveling various countries in Asia and Central America. She received several awards, including Distinguished Scholar Award in 2021 from the International Textile and Apparel Association (ITAA), Kemper Excellence for Teaching Award in 2017, Fulbright Core Scholar award in 2015 from the US Department of State, and more. She has completed many grants, over $700,000. She has published over 70 manuscripts in peer review journals, 7 book chapters, and presented her research over 125 times at various venues. She is an author of a textbook, Global Sourcing in the Textile and Apparel Industry. She has consulted US Trade Representative and Department of Commerce for trade facilitations and capacity strengthening in Central America. She served as the Vice President of Operations (2015-2017) and the Vice President of Publications (2019-2021), and she is currently serving as the President (2024) for ITAA.
The areas of her research interests include moral responsibility of corporate sustainability, global supply chain and sourcing strategies, and sustainable production and consumption of textile and apparel. She utilizes both qualitative and quantitative research tools.

Dr. Huantian Cao

Professor, University of Delaware, USA

"Circular Textiles: Application of Cradle to Cradle and Green Engineering in Textile Product Development"

Huantian Cao is a Professor and Department Chair in the Department of Fashion and Apparel Studies at the University of Delaware (UD). Professor Cao’s research interests include sustainable textile and apparel and functional textile and apparel. His scholarly contributions can be evidenced by numerous peer reviewed journal publications, editor reviewed articles, book chapters, refereed conference presentations, invited presentations, workshops, and webinar. Professor Cao has been the principal investigator (leading PI) of 18 research, teaching, and outreach projects funded by National Science Foundation (NSF), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST), and the industry. He also served as a co-investigator in seven research projects funded by NSF, NASA, Office of Naval Research (ONR), Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency (HSARPA), and EPA. The total grants Professor Cao has been involved with are approximately $5 million. The notable awards and professional recognitions Professor Cao received include U.S. EPA P3 (People, Prosperity and the Plant) Award (in 2011), ITAA Lectra Innovation Awards for Faculty Research (in 2005 and 2014), American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Youth Council on Sustainable Science and Technology (YCOSST) Award (in 2011), ITAA Paper of Distinction Awards (in 2009 and 2018), and Clothing and Textiles Research Journal Most Cited Paper Award (in 2022).

Professor Sandy Black

Professor, London College of Fashion, UK

"Fostering Sustainable and Circular Practices: the case of micro and small fashion businesses."

Professor Sandy Black has extensive experience in both industry and academia. Prior to entering academia she was Design Director and MD of Sandy Black Original Knits selling innovative fashion knitwear and designer knitting yarn kits to prestigious outlets internationally. Her academic experience includes directing and developing academic programmes integrating fashion, textiles and business at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. At London College of Fashion she developed and led the innovative MA Fashion Studies multi-disciplinary Masters programme for its first 8 years, expanding it to 12 named programmes.
Sandy Black is a key researcher in the UAL Centre for Sustainable Fashion. She researches and publishes on sustainability and fashion (including pioneering books in the field Eco Chic: The Fashion Paradox 2008 and The Sustainable Fashion Handbook 2012), on knitwear design and history (key books include Knitwear in Fashion 2002 and Knitting: Fashion, Industry, Craft 2012) and on the intersection of fashion and textiles with emerging technology. Current research focuses on the role of creative design entrepreneurship and new business models for sustainability, bridging research together with industry. Prof Black has a strong track record developing and leading pioneering collaborative research projects in fashion, funded by the UK Research Councils including Interrogating Fashion, Considerate Design for Personalised Fashion, FIREup (Fashion, Innovation, Research, Enterprise) and Fostering Sustainable Practices. Sandy is founder and now Editor-in-Chief of the journal Fashion Practice: Design, Creative Process and the Fashion Industry, published since 2009.
Prof Black has conducted academic review for many institutions and for governments. In 2014 and 2021 she was a member of the UK’s national Research Excellence Framework(REF) assessment panels for Art and Design: History, Theory, Practice and was a panel member for similar national research assessment exercises in both New Zealand and Hong Kong in 2016 and 2020.

Special Lectures

Professor Paloma Díaz Soloaga (Ph. D.)

Professor, The Computense University, Spain

"Fashion in motion: the evolution of the Spanish industry to achieve sustainability"

Paloma Díaz Soloaga (Ph.D) is a professor of Intangible Assets applied to the Fashion industry at the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain, where she has taught classes on Branding, Corporate Reputation and Organizational Culture for more than 20 years. She has been a visiting professor at Harvard Business School, Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, University of California San Diego, Glasgow Caledonian University among other international universities.
Díaz Soloaga is the author of “Introduction to Organizational Culture” Ed. Síntesis, 2019; “Communication and Management of Fashion Brands” Ed. Gustavo Gili, 2014 among other books and she has published more than 45 academic articles, in addition to being a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management. Editor of the special issue of the Journal of Global Fashion Marketing Fashion and Films: stories of (miss)understanding in 2023. She also regularly collaborates with the media as an expert in fashion retail in Spain.
She has been the Spanish coordinator of SFES (Sustainable Fashion Entrepreneurship Skills) ERASMUS KA2 project and the Head of the Santander – UCM research on “New Dynamics into the Sustainable Fashion Industry: connecting Business, Brands and Consumers”.
Professor Díaz Soloaga created the “Communication and Fashion Management” studies at Villanueva University in 2007 and was director from this year until 2016 and from then until today she remains Honorary Director. She received the National Fashion Industry Award from HM Queen Letizia of Spain in 2020.
As an academic expert in fashion films, she is a member of the Jury of the La Jolla International Fashion Film Festival, the Canadian International Fashion Film Festival and the Madrid Fashion Film Festival.

Dr. Anne-Marie Grundmeier

Professor, University of Education Freiburg, Germany

"Sustainability in Textile Education – Meaning, Concepts and Evidence"

Dr. Anne-Marie Grundmeier is Director of the Institute of Everyday Culture, Sport and Health including the Department of Fashion and Textiles and a full professor of fashion and textile sciences and their didactics at the University of Education Freiburg. Additionally, she holds a First State Examination and Diploma in Vocational Training from Leibniz University Hannover and a Second State Examination. Before her current position Dr. Grundmeier worked as research assistant at the Institute of Textile and Clothing Technology and Didactics at Leibniz University Hannover, as teacher at the German Masterschool for Fashion and as project manager at the Department for Vocational Training of the City of Munich.
At the University of Education, she is responsible for textile education in primary and secondary school, early childhood and special needs education and the study program M. Sc. Vocational Education Textile Technology and Clothing/Economics. Her research interests are fashion and textile sciences with an emphasis on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), aesthetic and (inter-)cultural education, and vocational education. Her list of publications includes 5 monographs, 3 edited works and over 130 international journal articles, conference papers and book contributions. Due to her renowned experience and knowledge about textile developments and their suitability for daily use she has had a couple of appearances in German TV shows. Next to her professorship she is the chairperson of the university teachers’ committee in the Federal Association for Textile Education in Germany. Her research and teaching won several awards including 2023 and 2022 Gold Medal Diploma of Honor for E-Learning at INVENTICA, Romania, 2013 Gender Prize by the University of Education Freiburg, 2012 Student Engagement Award for Fashion Project by the University of Education Freiburg, 2001 Award for Multimedia Fashion Education Project by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany, and by Deutsche Telekom, 1996 Advancement Award for Ph.D. by Wilhelm Lorch Foundation, Germany.

Dr. Tracy P.Y. Mok

Professor, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, HKSAR

"Computer Aided Fashion Intelligence – a bridge connecting the real & virtual worlds"

Dr Tracy Mok is Associate Director of Research Centre of Textiles for Future Fashion and also an Associate Professor in the School of Fashion and Textiles (formerly the Institute of Textiles and Clothing) at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Her research interests include artificial intelligence, 2D and 3D computer-aided design, digital human modelling, cloth simulation, computer vision, and computer graphics in fashion applications. She has successfully secured 23 projects worth a total of HK$ 38 million, published over 140 research articles in world-leading and top-tier research journals, and held 1 trademark, 7 patents, 6 software copyrights, and 3 licenses. Her research's findings have received widespread recognition from both academia and business, having a significant impact on the fashion industry. With her support, her PhD graduate commercialized their research technology with a startup formed, securing venture investment of over 20 million RMB. With her achievement, she has won 14 prestigious international awards, including the Gold Medal of the 35th International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva and the Silver Medal of the 1st Asia Exhibition of Inventions Hong Kong. Dr Mok has also committed herself to serving the education community as a fellow and executive member of the Hong Kong Institution of Textile and Apparel, a vetting committee member of the Create Smart Initiative for CreateHK of Hong Kong SAR government, a steering committee member of the Artificial Intelligence Special Committee of the China Textile Engineering Society, etc.

Dr. Hang Liu

Professor, Washington State University, USA

"Multifunctional Sensors for Smart Wearables"

Dr. Hang Liu is an associate professor in the Department of Apparel, Merchandising, Design and Textiles at Washington State University. She holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Textile Engineering from China Textile University and a Ph.D. degree in Textile Sciences from the University of Georgia. She teaches textile science and product development related courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels. Her current research focuses on functional textile fiber development for smart wearables and textile waste recycling for high-value-added products. Dr. Liu has published 45 peer-reviewed journal articles in high ranking journals, including the Journal of Cleaner Production, Carbohydrate Polymers, Green Chemistry, Materials Today Chemistry, and Cellulose. As PI and co-PI, she received more than 12.6 million dollars in funding to support her research. Among this, more than 2.7 million dollars were awarded to her program from various federal, state, industrial, and foundation funding agencies. As an inventor, she holds 4 international patents in textile waste recycling. Dr. Liu received the Rising Star Award from the largest international textile and apparel organization (International Textile and Apparel Association) in 2020 and the most prestigious Early Career Award from the US National Science Foundation in 2022.