Research At SARC
The multidisciplinary work at SARC evolves and expands as collaborations develop and with variations in our research community.
PhD Thesis
Click here to see our PhD Thesis Abstracts
Audio Engineering Seminars
A new series of Audio Engineering Seminars has commenced in 2018. The seminars, which will normally be held at SARC and are linked to the new cross-school BSc in Audio Engineering, are aimed at bringing together people at QUB and from the local industry & wider community interested in audio and related topics.
Research Projects
Research Project
Sounding Conflict
FROM RESISTANCE TO RECONCILIATION
This project investigates the effects of sound (including sonic arts, participatory music-making and storytelling in theatre) and their distribution through digital media activities. We are analysing how sounds project and ameliorate community experiences, memories and narratives of conflict across cultures and different conflict/post-conflict settings of resistance through to reconciliation.
Research Project
Humanising Algorithmic Listening
Humanising Algorithmic Listening is an AHRC funded network which brings together experts with an interest in the applications and implications of machine listening from diverse disciplines including oral history, sensory ethnography, archive services, computer science, philosophy and music technology. The principle aim is to develop a critical and methodological agenda for the design, development and application of computational methods for audio analysis - listening algorithms - in the future.
Research Project
The Mozambique Case Study
Understanding the role of music and sound in conflict transformation
Music making is known to have benefits for social cohesion. As a social practice, music depends on personal interaction, dialogue, agreement on conventions and trust. Previous work on music and conflict has illuminated the different roles that music and sound play in conflict situations (from exacerbating conflict to mitigating it). Moreover, recent scholarship has highlighted the transformative power of music, demonstrating how music making activities could have a direct and positive impact on conflict resolution, peacebuilding and reconciliation by non-violent means. This research project aims at contributing to these ongoing debates by exploring the possibilities of music and sound in conflict transformation in Mozambique through a participatory case study rooted in sonic art methodologies.
Research Project
NI HOSPICE SOUND GARDENS
The Sonic Arts Research Centre has been commissioned to install and develop content for three sound gardens for the re-built Northern Ireland Hospice building on Somerton Road, Belfast.
The project will help contribute to create a calm, yet uplifting atmosphere, engage patients and visitors through changing sound environments and create sensory garden spaces through soundscapes.
Director of Research, Professor Pedro Rebelo and SARC Technical Coordinator, Mr Craig Jackson will lead the project which began in August 2015 and will continue into the beginning of 2016 when building work is due for completion.
The audio in each of the three spaces will have different design treatments to reflect their architecture and use. The development of sonic materials will be based on a participative process with current patients and staff. This will allow us to make use of sound in a reflective manner, triggering sonic memories or transporting listeners to another place. For example the seaside, or birdcalls at dawn.
Multiple loudspeakers will be located in each of the gardens, carefully located to immerse each of the spaces in an ambient cloud of sound. This might include loudspeakers hidden in planting or positioned at at height.
Undergraduate and PhD students at SARC will be contributing to the creation of the sound environments. They will also be undertaking research into the appropriate use of different soundscapes in this type of setting by performing several workshops with patients and staff.
This project has developed from another SARC installation, The Soundscape Park Project. A permanent sound installation in Bridge Community Garden, East Belfast (www.soundscapepark.org). It is anticipated that SARC will continue to feed into these sonic garden installations and continue to develop new and immersive sounds to make pleasurable outdoor environments.
For more information about either project please contact either Prof Pedro Rebelo p.rebelo@qub.ac.uk or Craig Jackson c.jackson@qub.ac.uk
