Working with collaborators in Ecology and Informatics, local and global communities, we explore new ways to listen to the acoustic environment, or soundscape, to support nature recovery, connection and protection toward regenerative futures.  

One dimension is ecological: a decade ago, we were amongst the first  to demonstrate that we can listen to biodiversity.  Organisms across the tree of life use sound to survive - birds, bees, bats, beetles, whales, fish, frogs all vocalise; even coral polyps and plants are sound-sensitive. By analysing digital recordings, we can measure soundscape patterns to infer ecosystem health. Acoustic monitoring is now transforming environmental monitoring globally.  

Soundscapes are also cultural. With simple technologies we bring wildlife soundscapes into urban communities' everyday lives. Featured in Brighton Festival 2024 fills cultural venues with immersive recordings and invites audiences to ‘bathe’ in local birdsong. Wilding Radio livestreams from Knepp’s rewilding project - over 31,000 people from 120 countries have tuned in to the thriving wetlands to date.  

In parallel we are working with communities in Ecuador, helping to safeguard indigenous heritage by highlighting the biocultural value of soundscapes. The film Sacha Taki (Songs and Voices of the Forest) was co-created with the Pueblo Ancestral Kichwa Kawsak Sacha as part of a project which helped them to register Sacha Taki as National Intangible Biocultural Heritage  -- We understand this is a world first.   

The hope is that  braiding  ways of listening can help support action to restore degraded ecosystems, and protect and revitalise cultures that recognise our intrinsic interdependence with and care for our living planet. We call this Ecolistening.

In the past, I spent an inordinate amount of time creating adaptive, evolutionary and feedback systems for generative art amd musical performance.  I approach this as an invaluable space for experimenting with creative and quantitative research methods and ways of being with other systems.

These projects are guided by a commitment to (sonic) systems thinking and a belief that we need to better align research in technology, culture and environment to ensure an equitable and just future for people and planet. 

As Gregory Bateson famously noted, rigor alone is paralytic death, but imagination alone is insanity. I am a firm believer in working across and beyond disciplines to learn about and help others fall back in love with nature.