About
Marie O’Mahony is Programme Leader for the MSc E-textiles and Wearable Technologies with Winchester School of Art (WSA), the University of Southampton. She is Knowledge Exchange Enterprise (KEE) Champion for the Fashion and Textiles Department and a member of the WSA E-textile Innovation Lab.
Her research interests are in E-textiles and wearables, with a particular focus on industry-academia cooperation and application areas that afford societal and environmental benefits. She has published 5 books with Thames and Hudson and worked extensively with industry as a consultant and academic. An experienced academic with positions that have included full professor in Australia, Canada and UK. Marie has together with colleagues and independently secured grants in excess of £1.2m in addition to serving in roles as awarding body grant application reviewer, mentor and advisor on international grant applications.
Research
Research interests
- E-textiles and wearables
- Printed electronics and flexible hybrid electronics
- Design in E-textiles for health and wellbeing
- Industry-Academia collaboration
- Green E-textiles
Current research
Marie O’Mahony’s research interests center on E-textiles and wearables, with a particular focus on industry-academia cooperation and application areas that afford societal and environmental benefits. Examples of her research:
Industry
Through her consultancy practice, O’Mahony Consultancy, Marie has an international client list that includes InteraXon, the German Institute for Textile and Fiber Research (DITF), LOPEC, ResMed, Hussein Chalayan, VF Corporation, CTT Groupe, RipCurl, Canadian National Research Council, the Mayo Clinic, UNStudio, Microsoft, Messe Frankfurt, NESTA, Zaha Hadid Architects, Marcel Wanders, Arup and NIKE. The work is wide ranging and from an e-textiles perspective it has included new market research, the potential to replace plastic components with textiles for more user-friendly and sustainable design. Her network of clients crosses over to academic research and teaching, as many are involved with current and past grants as well as giving lectures, seminars and live (including sponsored) student projects. An advisory group has been established for the forthcoming MSc in E-textiles and Wearable Technologies that includes key stakeholders from the electronics, e-textiles and design industries, in addition to a Special Collaborator relating to printed electronics agreement with Voltera.
Grants
Together with colleagues as well as independently, Marie has secured grants that are in excess of £1.2m. These have included grants for the purchase of new technology that has expanded both teaching and research capabilities. Additional grants have related to the research and development of wearables directed towards full commercialisation. Many of the grants have been directed at developing international collaborations both within academia and involving SMEs with National, Regional and Global strategies informing their direction – Green Electronics, Digital Healthcare and International new market reach for example. She has also served in roles as mentor and awarding body grant application reviewer and separately as a strategic advisor on grant applications. Marie is currently working on a Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) MASH grant with colleagues at University College Dublin (UCD) and she has also been awarded a European EMERGE grant to undertake research at the RISE Research Institutes of Sweden.
Advisory roles
Marie is actively involved in advisory roles at government and industry association levels: on the Australian Government’s Textile, Clothing and Footwear Innovation Council (TCFIIC) where she served as Champion for Education and Training; International advisor to the Swiss government on Fashion and Textiles education in Swiss universities. She has also advised on and reviewed new Masters and undergraduate programmes for National and International universities and academic publications. She is currently Board Member with intelliFLEX, the Canadian Association for Printed Electronics; Advisory Group Member for the (American) Advanced Textiles Association’s TTS publication and advisory consultancy to an International university on a wearables commercialisation feasibility study.
Book Publishing
She has published 6 books, with book sales are in excess of 20,000 copies worldwide with some titles appearing in translated editions. Five books have been published with Thames and Hudson and one with Artemis: Advanced Textiles for Health and Wellbeing (2011), TechnoTextiles 2 (2007), Sportstech (2002), Cyborg: The Man Machine (2002), TechnoTextiles (1998) and 2010: Textiles + New Technology (1994). These focus on the impact of technology on textiles and their applications in sectors from apparel to transport, industrial, product design and architecture. They form the basis for her teaching and research into the potential for new and emerging technologies. She is currently co-editor for the forthcoming “Designing Wearable Technologies for Health and Wellbeing”, a Design Journal Special Issue.
Research projects
Publications
Teaching
Marie O’Mahony is an experienced academic with positions that have included full professor in Australia, Canada and UK. Teaching interests include:
- E-textiles and wearables
- Design of E-textiles for health and wellbeing
- Industry input and cooperation
- User-centered design
- Societal and environmental benefits
- Development of independent and team skills
Biography
Marie is an academic, industry consultant and author. Her PhD completed in 2020 ‘An assessment of the transformative impact of Smart Materials and Systems as a key driver of Innovation in Wearable Technology’ was undertaken at SMARTlab, University College Dublin (UCD). She has been a Full Professor at OCAD University in Toronto (2012-2017), and UTS (2008-2011), Visiting Professor at RCA (2017-2022) and UAL (2007-2016).
Combing her academic role with her consultancy practice, O’Mahony Consultancy, she has an international client list that includes the German Institute for Textile and Fiber Research (DITF), LOPEC, ResMed, Hussein Chalayan, VF Corporation, CTT Groupe, RipCurl, Canadian National Research Council, the Mayo Clinic, UNStudio, Microsoft, Messe Frankfurt, NESTA, Marcel Wanders, Arup and NIKE. She is on a number of international industry and academic advisory boards including Board Member with intelliFLEX, and has previously served on the Australian Government’s Textile, Clothing and Footwear Innovation Council (TCFIIC) where she served as Champion for Education and Training.
Marie is a successful author in her field with six books published since 1994, five of these with Thames and Hudson. Her book sales are in excess of 20,000 copies worldwide with some titles appearing in translated editions and receiving in excess of 250 citations. Published books are: Advanced Textiles for Health and Wellbeing, TechnoTextiles 2, Sportstech, Cyborg: The Man Machine, TechnoTextiles and 2010: Textiles + New Technology. She is a regular contributer to Business to Business (B2B) journals including the International Fiber Journal and Textile Technology Source.
Curated exhibitions include Smarter. Faster. Tougher. on innovative developments in sportswear for DX Design Exchange, Toronto, The Fabric of Fashion international touring exhibition for the British Council, TechnoThreads for the Science Gallery, Trinity College, Dublin and Cyborg: the Man-Machine at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.