Culture and Society

Music and identity have a complex interplay. Each individual has a unique relationship between these two factors, which makes understanding the relationship between them and neurodiversity all the more important. By doing so, sound engineers, musicians, music supervisors, and others in the audio industry can be more sensitive to their audiences in terms of how they interact with sound and create audio experiences that are tailored to their individual needs.

Supervisors: Duncan Williams and Garry Crawford

How does aural diversity shape our experience of sound through emotional and bodily states?

This project focuses on the affect, aural experiences and diversity, in understanding how sound is experienced and embodied by different people in different context, and how this shapes our understanding of the world, and in turn how this shapes us, and we shape it.

Supervisors: Garry Crawford and Gaynor Bagnall

How the shared and unique rhythms and identities of places develop over time.

Places are shaped not just by the physicality but also their sounds, be this the noise of a factory, railway line, or the music that emanates from clubs, bars, or street cultures. This project therefore seeks to explore culture, locality, and the experiences of place, through sound.

Supervisors: Garry Crawford and Gaynor Bagnall

The political and social power of sound, revealing how this varies greatly with individual and social context.

Just like the personal, sound is pollical. What sounds occur, where they occur, and also how we experience them are all shaped by social power relations. Sounds can be used for oppression, even violence, but can also be a source of resistance and rebellion. This project explores the contemporary urban context of sounds, and how they shape, control, or empower those who use and encounter them in their everyday lives.

Supervisors: Garry Crawford and Gaynor Bagnall

This research examines how diverse soundscapes shape the sensory and communal experiences of multicultural urban environments (Sen & Silverman, 2014); theorising the body as a dynamic site of aural perception, interaction, and negotiation. Inspired by Bruno Latour’s understanding of the body as a process of learning to be affected (2004), the project explores how diverse auditory experiences cultivate sensory skills and foster relations among individuals, communities, and their environments.

Focusing on post-industrial sites such as the Manchester Ship Canal, the study investigates how sound engages bodies in practices of inclusion, tolerance, and identity formation. Through participatory methods, including oral histories, sound recordings, and augmented reality tools, the research amplifies the experiences of aurally diverse participants— children and adults from indigenous and migrant communities, including anglers, residents, visitors, and wildlife—whose sensory engagements challenge the notion of a “normal” auditory body.

By drawing on Actor-Network Theory (Latour, 2005; Mol, 2002) and Bakhtin’s concept of polyphony (1984), the project considers soundscapes as sites of embodied be(com)ing , where the interplay of visible and invisible spaces reveals the body’s capacity to adapt, connect, and make sense of its environment. The cacophony of urban life is reframed as a medium for constructing shared sensory worlds, facilitating an inclusive approach to designing spaces that embrace aural diversity. This interdisciplinary PhD opportunity bridges urbanism, architecture, psychology, sociology, and anthropology, contributing to a novel understanding of urban soundscapes as dialogic and transformative environments. It invites candidates to rethink the relationship between the body, sound, and space, advancing methodologies that celebrate the full spectrum of sensory and auditory difference in multicultural cities.

Supervisors: Fadi Shayya and Donna Peach