Role
Hui-Ying is a Senior Lecturer on the BA (Hons) Fashion Communication and Promotion course in the Nottingham School of Art and Design. Hui-Ying welcomes PhD supervision enquires around her research topics of interest.
Career overview
As an academic, design historian, and creative, Hui-Ying has a multidisciplinary background in Design History, Critical Theory, Product Design and Architecture. Completing her PhD in History of Design at the Royal College of Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum (London) in 2017, her research explores consumer cultures of the late 1980s Japanese Bubble Economy through lifestyle magazines. Sponsored by the AHRC-CDA program for her PhD, she was also an AHRC-IPS scholar and visiting researcher at the National Museum of Ethnology (Osaka, Japan) during her fieldwork in Japan.
Since 2016 she has held a permanent teaching position at Nottingham Trent University, first in Product Design and since 2022 in Fashion. Over the years Hui-Ying has been the recipient of several awards and grants, including twice winner of the NTSU Student-Led Teaching Awards for Outstanding Teaching Staff in 2017 and 2019, and longlisted for The Profile Books Ideas Prize 2025. Hui-Ying is a founding member and chair of the NTU Academic Book Publishing Group, and is a co-convenor for the Nottingham School of Art and Design (NSAD) NTU Early Career Researcher Group.
Research areas
Hui-Ying has previously chaired the UK Design History Society’s inaugural panel at the College Arts Association (CAA) Annual Conference 2018 in Los Angeles, ‘Imagining the International: Repositioning Peripheral Narratives in Global Design Histories’. She also led the international research networking event, ‘Renegotiating the Narrative in Global Design Histories’ supported by the NTU Global Heritage Research Fund (2018).
In 2024, Hui-Ying co-convened and co-chaired the national Academic Book Publishing Conference in conjunction with the British Academy Early Career Researcher Network. She also presented her work and led a panel on the theme, ‘Cultural Resistance in a Time of Economic Stagnation’ at the inaugural Midlands Conference in Critical Thought 2024.
Hui-Ying has several publications on her research (see below), and is currently writing a monograph about the Japanese 1980s Bubble Economy through lifestyle magazines. She is also currently researching cute and girl cultures.
External activity
Hui-Ying has presented her work at different institutions, including the Tate Research Centre: Asia (London), The Japan Foundation (London), the College Arts Association (CAA) Annual Conference (Los Angeles), Leiden University (Netherlands), IASTE 2020, the Bard Graduate Centre (New York), the Zaha Hadid Foundation in conjunction with the London Festival of Architecture 2023, and the inaugural Midlands Conference in Critical Thought 2024. She is also a regular contributor to the online publisher, The Conversation.
In 2025 Hui-Ying was longlisted for The Ideas Prize (Profile Books and Aitken Alexander) for her book proposal: ‘Kawaii: Cute Rebellion, Disruption and Transnational Girling’.
Hui-Ying has been an academic reviewer for Bloomsbury Publishing and the journal, Culture Unbound.
She was the external examiner at Kingston University London for the PhD, ‘Lolita: Fashioning Identity, Liberal Selves and the City’, Lavinia Trinelli, Dec 2024.
Hui-Ying is the external examiner for the MA History of Design and Material Cultures course at the University of Brighton.
Sponsors and collaborators
Research Grants
Nottingham School of Art and Design Early-Career Development Fund Research Grant (2024/2025); Principal Investigator
Nottingham School of Art and Design Early-Career Development Fund Research Grant (2023/2024); Principal Investigator
Nottingham School of Art and Design Early-Career Development Fund Research Grant (2022/2023); Principal Investigator
Nottingham Trent University Global Heritage Research Seed Corn Fund (UK) (2017/2018); Principal Investigator
Design History Society (UK), College Art Association (CAA) Membership and Conference Fees Grant (2017); Panel Chair
Tate Research Centre: Asia (London, UK), Travel Grant (2017)
Royal College of Art Research Student Conference Travel Grant (2013)
Arts and Humanities Research Council International Placement Scheme (AHRC IPS) with the National Institute of Humanities Japan (NIHU), Visiting Researcher Travel Grant (2012)
Arts and Humanities Research Council Collaborative Doctoral Award (AHRC CDA) (2010 – 2013)
Membership and Collaborations
Nottingham School of Art and Design Early Career Researcher Group, Nottingham Trent University (Co-convenor)
Advancing Interdisciplinary Memory Studies (AIMS) Research Centre; Nottingham Trent University
The British Academy Early Career Researcher Network (Conference Co-convenor)
The Conversation (Contributor)
The Design History Society (UK)
Advance HE (Fellow HEA)
Nottingham Zine Archive (Co-Director)
NTU Academic Book Publishing Group (Chair)
Periodicals and Print Culture Research Group; Nottingham Trent University
Postcolonial Studies Centre, Research Group; Nottingham Trent University
Publications
Academic papers and book chapters
Kerr, H. (Forthcoming), Playing the Sporting Life; Sport and Fitness Leisure Through Lifestyle Magazines in the Japanese Bubble Economy; Okura Gagné, Nana and Gagné, Isaac (eds.), (2027), Handbook of Work & Leisure in Japan, Japan Documents, MHM Ltd, Tokyo, Japan
Kerr, H. (Forthcoming), From Osaka to Detroit: 1980s Japanese Synthesizers and the Creation of a New Sound; Rossi, Catherine and Serulus, Nina (eds.), (Forthcoming), Beyond the Dancefloor, Bloomsbury Visual Arts, London, UK
Kerr, H. (2025), Lolitas, Mountain Witches and Sexy Gals: Japanese fashion as rebellious style from the Lost Decades to now; Fashion Highlight Journal No. 5/2025; ISSN: 2975-0466; DOI: 10.36253/fh-3531 https://riviste.fupress.net/index.php/fh/article/view/3531
Kerr, H. (2025), Health Booms and Bubbly Bodies: Hanako Magazine, Women and Beauty in the 1980s Japanese Bubble Economy; Ng, Sandy and Rajguru, Megha (eds.), (2025), The Dynamics of Modern Asian Design: Material Culture and Social Agency, Bloomsbury Visual Arts, London, UK https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/dynamics-of-modern-asian-design-9781350427815/
Kerr, H. (2025), Review of Sartorial Japonisme and the Experience of Kimonos in Britain, 1865 – 1914 by Arisa Yamaguchi; caa.reviews (05th February 2025), CrossRef DOI: 10.3202/caa.reviews.2025.9; http://caareviews.org/reviews/4297
Kerr, H., (2022), Sweet Treats and Foreign Foods: Hanako Magazine and the Internationalised Women of the Japanese Bubble Economy; Lee, Yunah and Rajguru, Megha (eds.), (2022), Design and Modernity in Asia: National and Transnational Exchange 1945-1990, Bloomsbury Visual Arts, London, UK
Magazine and online publications
Kerr, H. (2026), Daily doses of ‘digital ibuprofen’: how burnt‑out Chinese youth soothe their anxieties; Online article, https://theconversation.com/daily-doses-of-digital-ibuprofen-how-burnt-out-chinese-youth-soothe-their-anxieties-293143 , The Conversation, UK https://doi.org/10.64628/AB.m5y3wkf3c
Kerr, H. (2026), The Samurai Detectives: Volume 2 explores money and kinship in the Edo underworld; Online article, https://theconversation.com/the-samurai-detectives-volume-2-explores-money-and-kinship-in-the-edo-underworld-279607 , The Conversation, UK https://doi.org/10.64628/AB.9wua33uqj
Kerr, H. (2025), The Samurai Detectives by Shōtarō Ikenami: a tale of honour, desire and mystery in Edo Japan; Online article, https://theconversation.com/the-samurai-detectives-by-shtar-ikenami-a-tale-of-honour-desire-and-mystery-in-edo-japan-268685 , The Conversation, UK https://doi.org/10.64628/AB.ekfj6mtus
Kerr, H. (2024), Barbie Unboxed: Examining Barbie’s role in culture and society; Podcast episode https://fast.wistia.com/embed/channel/06lq4y203v?wchannelid=06lq4y203v&wmediaid=0mcm8hwtws; NTU Research Reimagined Podcast Series
Kerr, H. (2024), What makes something 'cute'? Inside the exhibition defining the phenomenon; Online article https://theconversation.com/what-makes-something-cute-inside-the-exhibition-defining-the-phenomenon-222229 ; The Conversation, UK
Kerr, H. (2023), ‘I’m just Ken’ – a brief history of Barbie’s boyfriend, from all-American boy to movie star; Online article, https://theconversation.com/im-just-ken-a-brief-history-of-barbies-boyfriend-from-all-american-boy-to-movie-star-210149 ; The Conversation, UK
Kerr, H. (2019), Ribbons and Rebellion: Kawaii Fashion as Cute Disruptor; Magazine Article; Kawaii, Issue 15, CRUSHFanzine, NWInc. + KSAD Publication, CRUSHfanzine, New York, USA
Kerr, H., (2017), Conference Review, Modern Living in Asia, 1945 – 1990; Blogpost http://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/idhbrighton/2017/08/22/modern-living-in-asia-1945-1990/ ; Internationalising Design History Research, University of Brighton, Brighton, UK
Kerr, H., (2016), What is kawaii – and why did the world fall for the ‘cult of cute’?; Online Article https://theconversation.com/what-is-kawaii-and-why-did-the-world-fall-for-the-cult-of-cute-67187 ; The Conversation, UK
Conference papers
Kerr, H. (2024) Lolitas, Mountain Witches and Sexy Gals: Japanese Fashion as Rebellious Style in the Lost Decades; Midlands Conference in Critical Thought 2024; Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham UK; Conference Paper
Kerr, H. (2023) From Café Bongo to Moonsoon: Nightlife and Playscapes in the Japanese Bubble Economy; International Symposium: Designing Restaurants and Bars; The Zaha Hadid Foundation; Modern Interiors Research Centre, Kingston University; London Festival of Architecture 2023, London; Symposium Paper; https://www.londonfestivalofarchitecture.org/event/day-symposium-designing-restaurants-and-bars/
Kerr, H. (2023), Office flowers and corporate samurai: shifting gender attitudes through lifestyle magazines in the 1980s Japanese Bubble Economy; Research Symposium: Traversing the Fashion Landscape; Fashion and Textile Research Centre, Nottingham Trent University; Symposium Paper
Kerr, H. (2021) Repackaging the Local: Japanese Uniqueness and International Consumption in the 1980s Japanese Bubble Economy; International Conference: IASTE 2020: Virtual Traditions: The Transience of Tradition in Changing Geographies and Global Landscapes; The International Association For The Study Of Traditional Environments, Nottingham Trent University; Nottingham, UK; Conference Paper https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZG2CDz8otI
Kerr, H. (2021), Health Booms and Bubbly Bodies: Hanako Magazine, Women and Beauty in the 1980s Japanese Bubble Economy; International Symposium: Material Culture and Design in Modern Asia; The Bard Graduate Centre, New York, USA; Symposium Paper https://www.bgc.bard.edu/events/1213/18-mar-2021-symposium-material
Kerr, H., (2019), Renegotiating the Narrative in Global Design Histories: What does it mean to be ‘peripheral’ to history, but central to your own story?; International Conference: Global Heritage: Science, Management and Development; The 2nd Global Heritage Showcase and Exhibition; Nottingham Trent University; Nottingham, UK; Conference Paper.
Kerr, H., (2018), Sweet Treats and Foreign Foods: Hanako Magazine and the Internationalised Women of the Japanese Bubble Economy; International Conference: Shared Taste – Food and Exchange in Asia and Europe; Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands; Conference Paper.
Kerr, H., (2018), From Office Flowers to Gym Bunnies: How women used sporting leisure to redefine themselves in the Japanese Bubble Economy; Panel: Sport, Fitness, and Wellbeing in Art History; International Conference: College Art Association (CAA) 106th Annual Conference 2018, Los Angeles, USA; Conference Paper.
Kerr, H., (2017), Hanako Magazine and the Internationalised Women of the Japanese Bubble Economy; International Conference: Transnational Cities; Tate Research Centre: Asia (TRC Asia); Chelsea College of Arts, Transnational Art, Identity, Nation (TrAIN) Research Centre, University of Arts London (UAL); London, UK; Workshop Paper.
Kerr, H., (2017), The Well-Travelled Woman: Hanako Magazine and the Internationalised Women of the Japanese Bubble Economy; International Conference: Modern Living in Asia, 1945 – 1990; Internationalising Design History Research Group, University of Brighton; Brighton, UK; Conference Paper.
Kerr, H., (2017), Materialising Knowledge: Design Studies for All! Conference: Success for All: Advancing Inclusive Curricula and Pedagogies, Trent Institute for Learning and Teaching (TILT), Nottingham Trent University; Nottingham, UK; Conference Paper.
Kerr, H., (2016), Bubble Dreams and Bubble Living: Magazines and Consumer Lifestyles of the Japanese Economic Bubble (1986 – 1991); Exhibition Workshop: Mould Map 6 Saturday Special 15/10/16, Terraformers; Bonington Gallery, Nottingham, UK; Workshop Paper.
Kerr, H., (2014), Consuming leisure, consuming lifestyle: Women’s access to the Bubble through the lifestyle magazine, Hanako, in the Japanese Bubble Economy (1986-1991); Workshop: Japan Foundation / BAJS Postgraduate Workshop; Japan Foundation, London, UK; Workshop Paper.
Kerr, H., (2013), Design in the Japanese Bubble Economy (1986-1991); AHRC Research Showcase: Arts and Humanities Research Council International Placement Scheme (AHRC IPS), Early Career International Fellowship Showcase; University of Westminster, London, UK; AHRC Invited Speaker; Research Paper.
Kerr, H., (2013), Consuming Nostalgia in the Japanese Bubble Economy (1986-1991); International Conference: Nostalgias: Visualising Longing, Canterbury Christ Church University; University of Arts London (UAL), Margate, Kent, UK; Conference Paper.
Press expertise
Hui-Ying's research relates to transnational design history, cultural history, Japan and East Asia, fashion communication, lifestyle magazines, economic bubbles, cute / kawaii culture, and cultures of girlhood.
Hui-Ying’s research interests include the cultural impact of economic bubbles as materialised through lifestyle, material culture and design; magazines and zine culture; postmodernism and consumer culture; gender; femininity and cute studies; work and leisure cultures; Japan and East Asia, decolonising design history; peripheralities; and the intersectionality of encounters of the local with the international.
Course(s) I teach on
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Undergraduate | Full-time / Sandwichhttps://www.ntu.ac.uk/course/art-and-design/ug/ba-hons-fashion-communication-and-promotion