Role
Dr Congying (Grace) Guan is a Senior Lecturer in Fashion Management, Marketing and Communication at Nottingham Trent University, a position held since 2021, having previously served as a Lecturer since 2019. Her research focuses on fostering interdisciplinary innovation to tackle complex challenges within the fashion business landscape, consumer behavior, and environmental sustainability.
Career overview
Grace earned her PhD in Design from Northumbria University in 2018, following a BA in Industrial Design from Southwest Jiaotong University in 2008. Her PhD research focused on prototyping an AI-powered fashion recommendation system for e-commerce. Prior to Northumbria, she was a visiting academic at Brunel University.
Research areas
Dr Guan's research interests lie in digital fashion retail, AI, data analytics, VR/AR, and technology for sustainability. Her work includes innovative applications such as AI for textile waste identification and apparel-based deep learning. Her current research emphasizes inter-disciplinary innovation to address fashion business, consumer and environmental challenges. She collaborates within an inter-disciplinary group (Fashion Sustainability, AI, Chemistry) and engages actively with industry and community stakeholders to advance fibre-to-fibre recycling and waste management solutions.
Her recent project investigates the use of Virtual Reality (VR) to enhance immersive brand experiences in fashion retail. This work demonstrates how combining cutting-edge 3D visualization, GenAI and game engine technologies can transform brand storytelling and customer connectivity. Her research has been published in leading journals including the International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology, International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, and IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering, and presented at international conferences.
Dr Guan welcomes applications for PhD projects exploring innovative solutions in AI, Immersive Retail, and Sustainable Fashion Systems aligned with UN Sustainable Development Goals. Potential proposal areas include:
- AI Systems for Fashion Business Optimization
- Immersive Fashion Retail & Brand Experiences
- Closed-Loop Textile Recycling Systems
- Agent AI for Sustainable Fashion Supply Chains
Currently supervised PhD project in progress:
- 2022- to date, Exploring the Strategy of Luxury Marketing Communication through Chinese Social Media: A Case Study of WeChat in Mainland China (Nottingham Trent University; My role: Director of Studies)
External activity
- 2018 - ‘AI in Fashion’ section Chair, the 6th World Conference on Information Systems and Technologies (WorldCIST 2018)
- 2012 - Co-editor, IEEE Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Automation and Computing (ICAC'12)
Sponsors and collaborators
- A tactile-based intelligent textile recognition system for clothing re-use and recycling, 2022-2023, Research sabbatical fund NTU
- Application of CLO 3D and game engine technologies to the integration of immersive experience into the fashion retail, 2022-2023, ECR Research Development Fund NTU
- Enhancing digital fashion learning through the application of Virtual Reality, 2021, The Collaboratory Fund NTU
Publications
- Yuri Siregar, Anthony Kent, Anne Peirson-Smith, Congying Guan (2023) Disrupting the fashion retail journey: social media and GenZ's fashion consumption. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 51 (7). pp. 862–875.
- Guan, Congying, Qin, Sheng-feng and Long, Yang (2019) Apparel-based deep learning system design for apparel style recommendation. International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology, 31 (3). pp. 376-389. ISSN: 0955-6222
- Guan, Congying, Qin, Sheng-feng, Ling, Wessie and Long, Yang (2018) Enhancing apparel data based on fashion theory for developing a novel apparel style recommendation system. In: WorldCIST'18 2018, AISC 747 proceedings. Springer, pp. 1–10. ISBN 9783319776996
- Guan, Congying, Qin, Sheng-feng, Ling, Wessie and Ding, Guofu (2016) Apparel Recommendation System Evolution: An empirical review. International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology, 28 (6). pp. 854-879. ISSN 0955-6222
- Guan, Congying and Qin, Sheng-feng (2015) Robotic Stylist: A design oriented apparel recommendation system. In: IASDR2015 INTERPLAY Proceedings. The International Association of Societies of Design Research, Brisbane, pp. 839-850. ISBN 9780646943183
- Wang, Shuxia, Qin, Sheng-feng and Guan, Congying (2014) Feature-Based Human Model for Digital Apparel Design. IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering, 11(2), 620-626. ISSN 1545-5955
- Wang, Shuxia, Qin, Sheng-feng, Guan, Congying, Yu, Sui Huai (2013) Parametric human body model for digital apparel design. Applied Mechanics and Materials, pp. 121-124
Congying Guan (0000-0001-6374-8321) - ORCID
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-management
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
My research explores the transformative potential of AI, VR/AR, and data analytics to drive sustainability within the fashion sector. My work directly contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goals 12 (Responsible Consumption), 15 (Life on Land), and 4 (Quality Education) by tackling textile waste, promoting circularity, and fostering digital literacy through innovative solutions and interdisciplinary collaboration.
