Post-Immersive Futures

This Research & Knowledge Exchange Doctoral Project brief summarises our priority areas of research interest under the heading of: Post-Immersive Futures: Affective and Accessible Spatial Audio

We welcome all research degree applications aligned with and in response to this brief.

The immersive era’s rapid rollout of [spatial] audio and immersive technologies risks these innovations becoming simply another ‘territory’ for exploitation, rather than an opportunity to (re)calibrate and (re)design new ethical, inclusive and sustainable principles for their creation and use. These technologies are transforming commercial audio production, cinema, sound art, multimedia practice, live performance and everyday listening, necessitating new ethical and accessible frameworks.

Rooted in sound studies but demanding interdisciplinary exploration, this brief invites composers, sound designers, sound artists, cultural programmers, producers, researchers and wider creative-industry and community stakeholders to:

• develop frameworks for the ethical and sustainable design of immersive audio; investigate and mitigate bias in [spatial] audio to create more inclusive, representative sonic experiences;
• research how immersive listening can be made accessible to diverse audiences; establish user-centred methodologies ensuring engaging, accessible and affective experience; develop new metrics for evaluating immersive audio’s effectiveness and ethical implications, including those of generative and AI-driven audio tools;
• and produce novel work exploring the ethical, accessible and affective potential of immersive audio, and its wider environmental, cultural and societal impact.

Projects deriving from this brief are expected to sit within the Research & Knowledge Exchange strategy and the following department.

All successful research degree project proposals must emphasise a clear alignment between the project idea and our Research & Knowledge Exchange strategy.