From Comic Con to the classroom | News | University College Birmingham

May 2026

Bringing industry practice to life: a weekend at Liverpool Comic Con

By Claire Huggins

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The recent Comic Con pop culture event held at the Exhibition Centre Liverpool, saw our very own creative industries lecturer and AI lead, Leah Ratcliffe, indulge in one of her greatest passions.

Better known to many as Leah_SciFi, Leah is a self-confessed sci-fi fanatic and shares her hair, makeup and prosthetics skills and experience way beyond the classroom, to shape her take on the sci-fi universe.

Here, Leah 'boldly goes' through her experiences of Comic Con, the hardwork that went into her costumes and even meeting one of the all time greats!

"I attended Liverpool Comic Con as an official content creator with Monopoly Events, which meant documenting the event, engaging with audiences, and, of course, turning up in costume (twice!).

The convention itself brought together guests and fans from an incredible range of franchises including Star Trek, Star Wars, Orange Is the New Black, Doctor Who, The X Files, and Stranger Things universes, creating a really unique environment where creativity, fandom and performance all collided.

Leah meets Captain James T Kirk

For the Saturday, I created a Star Trek: The Original Series Yeoman Rand cosplay.

This involved over 40,000 rhinestones applied individually across the dress and boots (a decision I briefly questioned somewhere around rhinestone number 27,000), alongside a fully constructed cage-work, basket-woven beehive wig that I designed and built specifically for the event. The response was incredible, from people stopping to ask about the construction, to professional photographers requesting images.

A definite highlight was meeting William Shatner (Mr Captain Kirk himself) while wearing the look, which was very surreal. I am glad to say that my work was Shatner approved!

On Sunday, I took a very different approach with a Teletubbies-inspired outfit.

Complete with Teletubby boots, a grass dress and a hair-wrapped headpiece as the iconic antenna, the costume was intended as a fun, nostalgic look… but ended up being one of the most talked-about outfits of the weekend.

At more than one point, I had groups of people singing the theme tune at me, which I’m taking as a compliment.

"Experiences like this allow me to bring real, current industry practice into the classroom, from technical design and construction, to audience engagement and the realities of working within creative communities."

Leah Ratcliffe (Leah_SciFi) Creative industries lecturer and AI lead

Alongside creating content, I also had the opportunity to work with brands at the event, promoting what they do and integrating their products into my content.

It was particularly rewarding to support small businesses within the creative community, many of whom are producing incredibly detailed, handcrafted work that deserves visibility.

One of the most meaningful parts of the weekend, though, was meeting members of my online community in person. Having conversations about the franchises they love, hearing how they engage with my content, and being able to take photos and connect face-to-face was genuinely something I don’t take for granted. I even had someone ask for my autograph, which I’m still processing.

I was fortunate enough to have access to VIP areas too; seeing the event from an industry perspective offered valuable insight into how large-scale creative experiences are produced and delivered.

Experiences like this directly inform my teaching.

They allow me to bring real, current industry practice into the classroom, from technical design and construction, to audience engagement and the realities of working within creative communities.

Liverpool Comic Con was a reminder that creativity isn't insular, it lives in the people who engage with it, celebrate it, and sometimes sing at you because of it!

It was a brilliant weekend, and one I’m very grateful to have been part of."

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