Dr Rebecca Van Amber
Senior Lecturer
Senior Lecturer
Dr. Van Amber is an expert in textile and apparel sustainability, research and development, and designing test methods and experiments for textiles and apparel with specific properties and end uses (e.g. human health, sports, and the outdoors), as well as wear trials involving human participants. Dr. Van Amber was a winner of the 2017 H & M Foundation's Global Change award's innovation challenge as a member of Deakin University's "Denim Dyed Denim" team, which aimed to tackle textile waste through creating coloured powder from old jeans. This powder was then used as a pigment to print and colour new fabrics.
Dr. Van Amber is currently a Senior Lecturer in the school of Fashion and Textiles at RMIT University where she has been developing and then subsequently launched a new undergraduate degree, the Bachelor of Fashion and Textiles (Sustainable Innovation). The aim of this degree is to prepare graduates for emerging jobs within the Fashion and Textiles industry at this critical juncture of climate change, textile waste and a prevalence of unethical and unsustainable practices.
This new degree sits within the intersection of technology, design, art and science and is underpinned by critical thinking and communication skills.
Dr. Van Amber undertook her Phd and Masters of Consumer and Applied Sciences in Dunedin, New Zealand at the University of Otago in Clothing and Textile Sciences, with six of those years spent researching properties of socks and sock fabrics, and protein fibres such as silk and wool.
Dr. Van Amber has over 7 years of experience working in the fashion industry in both the United States and New Zealand, as a technical designer and operations manager, respectively.
Dr. Van Amber's expertise lies in material properties and sustainability. Currently her research is focused on a better understanding of materials and methods which can be translated to the fashion industry. The aim is to help transition the fashion industry to one which does less harm to animals, people and the planet.
Textiles, Sustainability, Fashion, Socks, Wool, Fabrics
Publications
Awards
Current PhD Supervisions
Textile Research Journal, 85(2), 115-127
Van Amber, R. R., Lowe, B. J., Niven, B. E., Laing, R. M., Wilson, C. A., & Collie, S. (2014).
Cellulose, 28(2), 1179-1189
Gan, L., Xiao, Z., Zhang, J., Van Amber, R., Hurren, C., Xu, W., ... & Wang, X. (2021).
Textile Research Journal, 89(18), 3871-3881
Van Amber, R., Laing, R. M., Wilson, C. A., Dunn, L. A., & Jowett, T. (2019).
Award date: 2017
Recipients: Rebecca van Amber
Acknowledgement of Country
RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.
Acknowledgement of Country
RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business.
- ORCID