Soundways: Tracing Sound Across Practices, Spaces and Cultures

Sound has become an increasingly important area of focus in the arts and humanities, but sound-focussed researchers do not have a clear disciplinary home. Sound culture research takes place in departments of music, media, history, museum studies, and modern languages, to name only a few. Sound researchers sometimes struggle to establish disciplinary belonging. This M4C Dialogue Day offers sound researchers across the M4C partnership and beyond the opportunity to learn from one another, bridge disciplinary approaches and methods, interface with professional sound practices beyond the academy, establish shared ways of working, and discuss the ethics and politics of sonic research. Attendees at the workshop, hosted by the Sound Research Centre at the University of Nottingham, will benefit from the opportunity to meet one another, share their research, learn from advanced practitioners in a variety of sonic methodologies, and to discuss the future needs of the sound research community. 

The Dialogue Day will begin with a series presentations from experienced researchers/practitioners designed to inspire thinking across four key themes: aural diversity; sound between the local and the global; sound collections, data, and heritage; sound walking and embodied methods. This will be followed by contributions from doctoral researchers whose projects intersect with these themes. 

We warmly invite expressions of interest from current doctoral students within and beyond the M4C partnership to present their research in the form of 10-minute talks and/or to present a poster about their work. Attendance at the workshop will be free with lunch and refreshments provided. General attendance is open to staff and students across the M4C partnership and beyond.     

Co-Organisers: Professor Paul Hegarty (University of Nottingham),  Professor James G. Mansell (University of Nottingham),  Dr Stefania Zardini Lacedelli (University of Leicester/Science Museum)

To sign up for the dialogue day, please complete the form below by 25 August 2025.  

https://forms.office.com/e/xSjGW9uHXx