Team
Franziska Schroeder is the Queen’s University lead for the “Performance Without Barriers” Project. She is also a saxophonist, theorist, and a senior lecturer at the Sonic Arts Research Centre, School of Arts, English and Languages and a Fellow of the HEA (Higher Education Academy in the UK). She serves on the peer review panel for the UK's AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council) and is a registered expert for the EU's Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Franziska was awarded her PhD from the University of Edinburgh in 2006, and has since written for many international journals, including Leonardo, Organised Sound, Performance Research, Cambridge Publishing and Routledge. She has published a book on performance and the threshold, an edited volume on user-generated content and in 2014 a book on improvisation entitled "Soundweaving". www.qub.ac.uk/sites/StaffGateway/Ourstaff/DrFranziskaSchroeder/
Michelle McCormack is founder and CEO of The Drake Music Project Northern Ireland, a charity that provides access to independent music making for children and adults with complex disabilities. The charity that has been operating for 25 years provides workshops in composition and performance skills through adapted computer interfacing technology, in order that physical and cognitive ability is matched to an appropriate gestural interface, allowing people with disabilities the opportunity to express their creativity in an independent and controllable environment.
Alex Lucas is a Product Designer who specialises in designing music technology hardware interfaces. He has been designing professionally since 2013. Recent products designed by Alex include the Novation Peak polyphonic synthesiser and Circuit Mono Station sequenced monosynth. Alex has a passion for intuitive user experience and aspires to improve the accessibility of music technology interfaces. Alex completed an MSc in Creative and Computation Sound at the University of Portsmouth in 2007. In 2017 Alex relocated to Belfast to take up a prestigious AHRC NPIF (National Productivity Investment Fund) PhD studentship to join the Performance Without Barriers Team.
Koichi Samuels is a music researcher and electronic musician. Koichi has released music on international electronic music labels such as Soma Records, Planet Rhythm and Animal Farm, as well as founding his own electronic music and live digital art event and platform RESIST. In 2018 RESIST is running a programme of interdisciplinary art and music events in Belfast, Northern Ireland in partnership with Arts Council Northern Ireland and Help Musicians UK.
Koichi finished his PhD in 2016, working under the supervision of Dr Franziska Schroeder and Prof Fiona Magowan. His thesis is titled Enabling Creativity: A study of inclusive music technology and practices at The Drake Music Project Northern Ireland. Koichi has a growing body of publications in the area of inclusive music, including in Leonardo Music Journal (2015). His research interests include: inclusion, participatory design, electronic music and socially engaged music practices.