The Centre for Sound and Image is an internationally recognised hub for creative industry professionals, bringing together musicians and sound designers, film makers, scientists, artists and philosophers. Our shared goal is to reflect upon the relationships between the auditory and the visual, delivering insights and perspectives that can drive positive change and enrich lives.
We aim to:
- Develop new, inclusive experiences and forms of expression, bringing people together with new technologies to better understand and connect with one another and the environment.
- Provide innovative training and evidence-based guidance in new and emerging areas of music, immersive media and digital heritage.
- Reflect upon and explore the potential of new immersive and virtual technologies using an arts and humanities frame, generating world-leading insights and reducing barriers for access.
- Demonstrate the significance of the creative arts, culture and social sciences in understanding the complexity of the human condition as it relates to wellbeing, social justice, environment, sustainability and place-making.
Major Research Themes:
Exploring both the relationships between sound and the moving image, and the images which sound construct on their own, we are engaged in a wide range of international projects with high profile collaborative partners.
- Sonic Phenomenologies
- Heritage and Place
- Spatial Aesthetics and Immersive Environments
- Expanded Cinemas
- Communities and Cultural Access
Our vision is to enrich lives locally, nationally and internationally.
Through our outputs we:
- Develop new and inclusive experiences, forms of expression, and ways of bringing people together with new technologies to better understand and connect with one another and the environment.
- Create innovative training resources for research and work in emerging and growing areas of music, immersive media, and digital heritage, addressing the gap in this area and increasing skills in the workforce by providing cutting-edge, accessible, evidence-based guidance for professional practice.
- Provide robust critical reflection upon new immersive and virtual technologies via an arts and humanities frame, generating world-leading insight and reducing barriers for access.
- Explore the liminal spaces of liveness/pre-recorded media, real/virtual spaces and the potential of new immersive technologies, applying practice research methods from triangulated perspectives to explore emergent potentials.
We strive to make progressive contributions to the contemporary electronic art landscape, challenging established knowledge and seeking to enrich the worlds of contemporary sound and audiovisual media.
Teaching and training
The Centre offers a research-informed curricula of high quality taught courses at different levels for students and professionals alike.
We have recently launched, or are involved in, three degrees:
- Music and Sound Production, BA Hons, designed to open students’ ears to a wide range of musical worlds, from music production to sound design and from film music to game sound.
- Music and Sound Design, MA, encouraging students to be forward-thinking and innovative and prepare them to respond both technically and creatively to diverse professional industry environments, or for further academic study.
- A bespoke PhD programme in Music and Sound Arts.
We also run short training courses in spatial-audio, also known as immersive audio or atmospheres.