Shanu Walpita, Course Leader
With over 13 years of experience as a forecast director, creative strategist and editor, Shanu Walpita’s professional practice sits at the intersection of culture, consumer behaviour, product direction and innovation. Walpita has worked with leading global brands, media organisations and creative agencies on developing value-focused visions of today and the future. She is the co-founder of Emergence of Tomorrow, a visionary online discussion space and community think-tank. As an industry expert, Walpita’s words have been featured in media outlets including Business of Fashion, Highsnobiety, Dazed Media, Vogue, NY Times, The Observer and many others.
Mélodie Roulaud, Lecturer
Mélodie Roulaud is a London-based, French-born film director and photographer with a background in TV commercial campaigns, documentaries, fashion films and portraits. Their professional work focuses on representation, creative processes and lived experiences, all of which Roulaud expresses through a range of formats, including production, advertising, beauty and fashion. From working with a range of commercial brands including Dove, Hugo Boss, Tiffany & Co and Nowness to screening her films at festivals around the world, Roulaud has created work with a desire to challenge mainstream ideas of image creation.
Anthony Price, Lecturer
Anthony Price works as a multi-disciplinary creative – an academic, DJ and creative director of Anomalous, a studio, event space and integrative collective. Over the past two decades, he has gained experience across the fashion and music industries, including in editorial teams at Dazed & Confused, The Face and Mixmag as well as a freelancer. Price’s focus is on archival practices, specifically around club culture and underground dance music, which he articulates through forms of audio, visual and event production. Additionally, his academic research investigates the role of nostalgia within media, namely via the philosophical and political lens of hauntology.
Simone Konu-Rae, Lecturer
Working across creative direction and styling in the world of fashion media publishing, Simone Konu-Rae has been building her portfolio from the ground up – from assisting at publications including Harpers Bazaar, LOVE and Vogue to working as a freelancer for the likes of Vogue Italia, Sunday Times STYLE, i-D and Tank Magazine. In 2018, Konu-Rae founded ALSO Journal, an online platform focused on representation and diversity of women in fashion as well as focusing the spotlight on female creatives. In addition, she has led wardrobe and casting departments across a number of festival-featured short film projects.
Leigh Odimah, Lecturer
With a diverse portfolio of experiences that range from curation to PR and event marketing through co-founding a cult noughties brand Sexie Booda, Leigh Odimah brings a truly overarching perspective to education. Her industry reach is just as broad as she counts brands and artists across fashion, beauty, film,
music and television as her past clients. In her academic endeavours, Odimah has worked as a unit leader and on developing programmes as well as a mentor supporting students of colour as part of the School’s BAME mentoring project. Odimah is also an Associate Fellow in the School of Media and Communication.
Karolina Cialkaite, Lecturer
Both a design researcher and a research designer, Karolina Cialkaite merges her skills and experience in graphic design with an interest in cultural production and education futures. Examining systems across physical, digital and 2D experiences, Cialkaite’s work focuses on cross-disciplinary interactions. She plays the role of a creative connector in the design realm – working with everyone from curators and architects to scientists and psychologists. In addition, she is training as a psychoanalyst.
Charlotte Troy, Lecturer
Charlotte Troy’s creative practice is grounded in a curious and restless nature which is expressed across both her artistic and academic work. As a research-orientated educator and a Senior Fellow in Higher Education at UAL, Troy’s work addresses how contemporary theory forms the future of a creative and critical curriculum. This is rooted in pursuing student and facilitator wellbeing through the transformative potential of practising philosophy, arts and humanities. Troy also creates art herself – under the name Victorious Hermit, she works with mixed media; including textiles, ceramics and poetry.
Isabel Wharton
A forecaster, strategist, designer, and creative, Isabel Wharton is fascinated by culture, interdependent and non-binary thinking. As her experience suggests, Wharton’s work covers the intersections of multiple fields, including culture, identity and community. She art directed music festivals, zines and events at a young age, before bringing her presence into the fashion industry. Today, she is an active member of the ESEA (East & South East Asian) community, working with various groups and initiatives. Professionally, Wharton is very excited for the convergence of visual media, technology, sound, science, art, speculative thinking, climate and social issues.
Avril Bown
Avril Bown is a multi-disciplinary academic whose research explores the intersection of fashion, style and psychological processes, both historically and in current culture. Brown’s background ranges from delivering creative education to curating exhibitions and events globally, having worked with brands, institutions and sub-sections of society. Drawing on archival material, panel discussions, interviews, art and fashion, Brown is a leader in important cultural conversations happening in the industry and beyond.
