Dr Victoria Geaney

Victoria’s research and practice engage with themes of regenerative design, climate emergency, sustainability and biological and living systems.

In 2024/25, Victoria operated as a Visiting Researcher at Tom Ellis Laboratory, Imperial College, investigating the potential of biological glowing proteins, cellulosic, and algae-based textiles to create biological forms of wearable technology.

Victoria worked alongside synthetic biologists in the Tom Ellis Lab to cultivate green fluorescent protein and tested this on different materials, highlighting sustainable and biological materials and their role in shaping ecological fashion futures.

Within her professional artistic practice, Victoria successfully gained Immersive Arts funding in 2025 as lead artist on the Submerse project. Victoria collaborated with Dr Nigel Guérin-Garnett to lead a team including industry professionals Sara and Sarah Textile Design, and Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS).

This experience led to showcasing and testing SUBMERSE - an immersive experience based on more-than-human communication and empathy with algae species, at SAMS centre in Oban, Glasgow.

This user testing led to deep insights from scientists and leading directors of the centre, into more-than-human relationality, and sustainability in an immersive arts context.

Immersive Arts Funding

As Lead Artist on SUBMERSE project
March 2025 – December 2025

Successful funding for SUBMERSE project - lead artist and researcher with project partners Sara+Sarah Smart Textiles, Scottish Association for Marine Science and Dr Nigel Guérin-Garnett.

LDoc PhD Scholarship funded by Arts and Humanities Research Council
2015–18

Full PhD tuition fee scholarship plus annual maintenance stipend.

AHRC Student Development Fund (SDF) for Study Support and Work Placement Applications

October 2018

Funding to present at Quite Frankly: It’s a Monster Conference – University of Western Australia

LDoc AHRC Cohort Development Fund, Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Research grant for Beyond Design Cross-Disciplinary Encounters Conference and Workshop

April 2016 – April 2018

Funding to organize and facilitate conference and workshop with fellow LDoc design researchers Miriam Ribul and Paola Pierri

AHRC Research Training Support Grant (RTSG) and PGR Conference Funds (RCA) January – February 2016

Funding to attend BRAVOO Biodesign Workshop – University of Lausanne, Switzerland

AHRC Student Development Fund (SDF) for Study Support and Work Placement Applications

November 2016

Funding to attend the Biofabricate 2016 conference in New York. Presented my work at the Fashion Institute of Technology, attended workshops at Parsons School of Design in biodesign and synthetic biology, and interviewed prominent synthetic biologists George Church and Neel Joshi at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University

VOICE Project (2024–26)

30-month EU funded project to explore Valorising Artist-Led Innovation through Citizen Engagement (VOICE). Taking a mixed methods approach towards building evidence through engagement activities and evaluating artistic-led outcomes. Victoria is lead authoring two upcoming journal articles – one around tracking emergent artistic methods in art, technology and community artistic-led interventions around the environment and sustainable development goals; and the second on mentorship for artists. Reports include: Deliverable 2.2 Artist Brief and Induction Manual (Guideline and Framework for participation in ATSI schemes); Deliverable 5.1 Mentoring Programme; and Deliverable 6.3 Mentoring Guidelines – Improved Version; as well as a short report for Deliverable D4.3 Methods and Capacity Building Repository. The VOICE project will have outcomes including policy recommendations for stakeholders in the EU, in Brussels.

SUBMERSE (April 2025 – January 2026)

Lead artist successfully gaining Immersive Arts funding as Lead Artist on the SUBMERSE project. Collaborated with Dr Nigel Guérin-Garnett to lead a team including industry professionals Sara and Sarah Textile Design, and Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS)

This experience led to showcasing and testing SUBMERSE - an immersive experience based on more-than-human communication and empathy with algae species, at SAMS centre in Oban, Glasgow. This user testing led to deep insights from scientists and leading directors of the centre, into more-than-human relationality, and sustainability in an immersive arts context.

Algae Voices (November 2024–25)

Victoria worked as a Visiting Researcher - Tom Ellis Laboratory, Imperial College. Investigating the potential of biological glowing proteins (GFP), cellulosic, and algae-based textiles to create biological forms of wearable technology.

Cultivating green fluorescent protein and testing on materials, highlighting sustainable and biological ‘e-textile’ materials and their role in shaping ecological fashion futures.

Publications

Kuiper, E., Buchan-Ng, M., Geaney, V. and Andrew, E. 2024. Addressing fashion’s plastic problem: The EU’s role in the shift to lower-impact materials. European Policy Centre. [online]

Journal Articles

(Upcoming) Geaney, V., Baker, C. and McKeown, A., 2026. Artistic Methods of the VOICE Project: Tracking the Methods and Development of Phase 1 VOICE Artists’ Community Interventions working across Art, Technology, Society, Interactions (ATSIs) framed by Sustainable Development Goals.

(Upcoming) Geaney, V., Baker, C. and McKeown, A., 2026. Mentorship for The VOICE Project: A Case Study into The Development of a Mentorship Program for Artists working around Community, Technology and Environmental, Sustainable Development Goals.

Alderson-Bythell, L., Geaney, V., Lin, C., Tan, J., Broach, Z. and Toomey, A., 2024. Co-creation with digital tools and haute couture principles—experiences of creative agency and interactions with an automated computer agent. Journal of Textile Design Research and Practice. 12(1-2), pp.40-63.

Alderson-Bythell, L., Carter, D., Geaney, V., Tan, J., Toomey, A., and Broach, Z., 2023. Agential Digital Materials – A Fashion and Textile Perspective, in Tincuta Heinzel, Delia Dumitrescu, Oscar Tomico, Sara Robertson (eds.), Proceedings of Textile Intersections Conference 2023, 20 - 23 September, London, United Kingdom.

Book Chapters

(Pending) Lettmann, S., Geaney, V. and James., S., 2026. Unlearning design: catalysing mindset transformation at postgraduate level through place-based learning, co-creation and more-than-human perspectives, in No limits to hope: Transforming learning for better futures. Club of Rome, the World Environmental Education Congress and The Fifth Element. Elsevier.

Geaney, V. (2023). Vital Matters: Growing Living Materials, in Atzmon, L., ed., 2023. Design and Science. New York: Bloomsbury Visual Arts Publishing, pp.145-162.

Park, S., and Geaney, V. 2019. Harvested sunlight: an experiment with a novel photoautotrophic biomaterial, in Armstrong, R., 2019. Experimental architecture: Designing the unknown. Oxford: Routledge, pp. 71–72.

Thesis

Geaney, V., 2021. Vital Assemblages: A Fashion-Led Research Investigation into Collaboration Between Fashion Design Research and Biology. PhD. The Royal College of Art.

Exhibitions

Material Alchemists exhibition (Pending 2026)

• Commission for glowing green fluorescent protein (GFP) dress by curator Brooke Smith’s Material Alchemists Exhibition.
• Made with support from the Tom Ellis Lab, Imperial College London.

SUBMERSE Immersive User Testing (December 2025)

• Immersive Arts funded immersive installation user testing at Scottish Association for Marine Science, Oban, Glasgow.

National Communication Center for Science and Technology, Beijing, China

December 2023 – March 2024

• Living Light Dress in 6th Art and Science International Exhibition

Design Museum

November 2022

• LDoc Research Legacy Exhibition

Royal College of Art

February – March 2021

• Royal College of Art Research Biennale (virtual)

Design and Science Exhibition September 2019 – March 2020

• Living Light Dress in touring exhibition in Michigan and Philadelphia

National Science Foundation

2019 – 2020

• Living Light Dress presented during Harvard entry for National Science Foundation ’s Big Ideas Competition

Style Engineers Worldwide

October 2019

• Fashioning the Future Interview

Wired Magazine

February 2017

• Living Light Dress photographed and featured for Wired Magazine

3rd Istanbul Biennial

October 2016

• The Protocol film collaboration in the 3rd Istanbul Biennial

S:FUTURE exhibition, Royal College of Art October 2016

• Azazel, Aequorea and Bacterial Cellulose I, II and III sculptures

Vienna Design Week

September - October 2016

• Oscillatoria Sutured textile installation in BioFaction exhibition

Imperial College

September 2016

• Aequorea fashion installation in Imperial College Fringe Water Festival

Supernature Exhibition, Royal College of Art June 2016

• BIOPHELIA artwork in Supernature Exhibition

Cacophonia Exhibition

March 2016

• Inciperem film in Cacophonia Exhibition, London

SHOWstudio Fashion Film Award

January 2016

• Inciperem film featured on SHOWstudio.com

Cambridge E-Luminate Festival

• Lo Lamento art installation in Cambridge E-Luminate Festival. Produced with funding grant: Novel bioluminescent reporters, awarded by the Cambridge Synthetic Biology Strategic Research Initiative (February 2016)