Immersive (IIT)

The Immersion and Inclusive Music Technologies  project brings together an interdisciplinary team from Queen’s University Belfast, Drake Music Northern Ireland, Hard Rain Soloist Ensemble (HRSE), and immersive content designers BeAnotherLab. The project is led by Dr Franziska Schroeder (PI) with Dr Karen Rafferty (CI), and Dr Matilde Meireles (PDRF).

Throughout the project we address challenges of the next generation of immersive experiences in music performance and disability. 

Our aim is to better understand and share experiences of young musicians affected by a physical disability.

The project brings together researchers with digital performance and immersive technology background, supported by three industry/community partners to research and promote empathy using interdisciplinary human-centred methodologies:

. Drake Music NI, the only charity in Northern Ireland that works with disabled musicians to independently perform and compose their own music;

. Hard Rain Soloist Ensemble, Northern Ireland’s first professional contemporary music ensemble with an ethos of inclusion at heart;

. BeAnotherLab, a young company with five years’ experience in 20 countries developing an award-winning embodied VR toolset The machine to be another. BeAnotherLab has been at the forefront of using immersive technologies to facilitate the notion of being in someone else’s place or indeed, embodying the other.

Short documentary by Declan Keeney:

Prof Franziska Schoeder’s presentation at the AHRC Immersive Experiences
York Showcase 4 Ddember 2018