Our people - Jane Leavey

Jane Leavey is Programme Director for Fashion Design at Griffith College with a demonstrated history of working in third level education management, programme design, curriculum development and delivery. She is experienced in validation and programmatic reviews of QQI undergraduate design programmes, in curriculum alignment and articulation agreements and has been an external academic for NCAD and LIT interview panels and validations at LIT and LYIT.

Jane’s Art and Design education began at IADT, she then graduated from the University of Ulster with a BA Honours in Textile & Fashion Design and a Diploma in Industrial Studies. She completed her Masters in Design in Digital Media at DIT and after a Post Grad in Training and Education. Over the past ten years, she has played a key role in the development of Griffith’s Fashion Degree programme, which has built a leading reputation in the industry for creative fashion design industry graduates with strong business and digital design skills. The calibre of the fashion students’ work has resulted in numerous prestigious design awards, exhibitions, TV appearances and has featured in many publications. Through her role, Jane has been creative director of fashion shows, exhibitions, editorial and video productions. She has made a number of appearances on Xposé and is a current Junk Kouture judge alongside X Factor’s Louis Walsh. Jane's career as a fashion designer began in London; her next stop was Milan where she spent four years designing for global brands sourcing at the international fabric and yarn fairs including Interstoff Asia, Première Vision, Idea Como, Moda-In and Pitti Filati Florence. Throughout her career, she has worked in many of the leading centres of design and manufacturing. She spent several years designing for Mexx International working between their European Design Centre in The Netherlands and their International Headquarters in Hong Kong. Jane developed particular expertise in creating new product lines and brand development, working with Irish brands advising on product development and overseas manufacturing. This extensive industry experience and knowledge of design led to her current role in education.