Farrer is Associate Dean of Enterprise and Innovation in the Faculty of Cultural and Creative Industries at the University of Portsmouth, was Director of the Design Research Initiatives (DR-i) and has held principle and co-investigatorroles on EU and UK funded applied research projects. She is adesigner whose research and transdisciplinary expertise, stems from deep practicalcommercial knowledge of team leadership in the industrial retail sector in Fashion, Textiles, Fibre, Materials product design R+D and brand development, linked to global supply and disposal chains. Her Sustainable, 'Smart' fashion and textilesinnovative research projectsand publishinginclude the Arts, Physical and Biomedical science,Computing, Mathematics and Engineering collaborations. Farrer has extensive commercial design and product consultancy experience and owned an SME for 12 years. She has produced policy documents for industry, Government, NGOsand Educational institutions, UK, Europe, USA, Australia and New Zealand. Her significant projects have included developing corporate social responsibility policy (CSR) for northern hemisphere retailers and their developing world partners, establishing Work Wear ISO purchasing standards for sustainable supply chains, and developing ‘Smart’ textiles for security and wellbeing applications. Whilst her recent significantly funded projects include: BRIDGE(Building Research and Innovation Deals for the Green Economy) and prototype developments for textiles in well-being, surgical and cancer prevention, she and collaborators are developing new interdisciplinary funded proposals and publishing opportunities. In 2000 she achieved her PhD from theRoyal College of Art, which was acclaimed as one of the first in Sustainable fashion textile global supply chain analysis, focusing on economic, social and environmental productionand true cost of one wool fibre’s journey from cradle-to-cradle. Wool: From Straw to Gold.In 2004, Farrer became Senior Research Fellow in the Innovation Centre UAL London, Textile Futures. In 2005 she became Senior Research Tutor at the Royal College of Art London, establishing a PhD by practice student cluster in the School of Fashion and Textiles, in 2007 she was appointed as the first Associate Professor in Fashion Textiles Design in the Antipodes where she became Director of the Textile and Design Research Lab in Auckland New Zealand and government consultant.Farrer accepted a Reader’s post at the University of Brighton to develop research in Design and Materials in 2010. Farrer’s previous academic posts include external UK and overseas PhD, Masters and Undergraduate examiner. She was an external Faculty Reviewer panel member at Queensland University of Technology Australia, Auckland University of Technology New Zealand and Heriot Watt University Scotland. She was acting Director of MA Fashion at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. Farrer has been College member and advisor, co-author and co-investigator for AHRC and EPSRC funded projects, she reviews and writes for various trade and academic publicationsholding international advisory board posts for textiles and sustainability journals. Farrer has played a significant role in the writing of undergraduate and postgraduate course documents in the UK and NewZealand and believes that formally funded research projects should be integral to, inform and support, scholarly activity and curriculum at all levels. She serves on Faculty boards, is a PhD supervisor and mentor.

Dr. Joan Farrer's research interests include: Fashion and Textile design and future strategy building Sustainability Research and Development in the areas of policy/fibre/yarn/fabric (knitted, woven, printed textiles including smart and dumb materials) Clothing/production/retail/brand development/waste/recycling and associated collaborations Industrial smart fashion textile design and product development