Dr Natascha Radclyffe-Thomas

Dr Natascha Radclyffe-Thomas is an Inaugural University of the Arts London Teaching Scholar, Senior Fellow of the HEA, and currently Course Leader BA (Hons.) Fashion Marketing, London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London, where I have taught 1994-2005 and 2012-present. Natascha is an academic with extensive international experience, having taught fashion, both studio-based and theoretical, and from FE to PhD level, in the UK, Asia (2005-2009) and the US (2010-2012). A researcher with a special interest in the East-West interplay in fashion and communication, she has published and presented internationally on research interests including pedagogy and e-learning, cross-cultural communication and creativity, fashion branding and place marketing, sustainability and social enterprise. Natascha's Ed.D. explored implicit concepts of creativity with reference to Western and Confucian heritage cultures and how these culturally-situated understandings manifest themselves in fashion education and practice. Impact of work Curiosity and passion manifest in dedication to curriculum development particularly in the area of internationalising the curriculum. She incorporates global, non-heterogeneous examples and create peer networking which enable students to recognise and enhance their cultural capital. Natascha uses Facebook to facilitate collaborative online international learning projects between London, Hong Kong and Singapore in a global classroom. This has become an integral part of the Year 1 experience and has involved over 350 students to date. It has become a true community of practice with students describing it as 'very beneficial', 'essential skill development' and a 'virtual exchange'. Plans for the future Natascha is developing the global classroom to include partners in Vietnam, in Africa and N. America. She will also be publishing a co-authored qualitative case study on this collaborative online international project. She will also be developing an animation to explain the motivations and impact of her work internationalising the curriculum. She continues to research intercultural communication in art and design education and is looking for opportunities to update her thesis research with a new generation of students and teachers.