Jema Hewitt is a British costumer, working for the past 25 years in film, tv and theatre, specialising in period drama.
As her alter ego “Emilly Ladybird”, she was at the forefront of the emergence of Steampunk, creating work for exhibitions across Europe, with her designs and creations featuring in many international books. She is now enjoying lecturing and teaching internationally as well as writing her doctoral thesis, drawing on her research in subcultures, corsetry, robo-philosophy and gender theory to explore the connections between art and science through creative practice.
Title of thesis: The interpretation of gender within the process of designing robots and embodied AI
Current research is examining the role that basic shapes and semiotics play in perceptions of gender in robotics, how the use of these in both manufacturing and material culture's robot design reinforces potentially damaging stereotypical gender roles, ultimately providing an understanding of the process by which a gendered or non-gendered design may evolve, in order that a more thoughtful approach to robot design and strategic interventions may be modelled.
Supervisors: Dr Rachael Grew, Dr Ella-Mae Hubbard