Nicole Robson

PhD Student, Postdoctoral Research Associate

2019 — Present

n.robson@imperial.ac.uk

Cello, composition, sound art, listening, HCI, epistemology

Nicole Robson is an interdisciplinary researcher working across music, sound art, and human–computer interaction. Guided by the relational logic of sound, she explores new ways of knowing and designing for human experiences with technology. Her research combines artistic practice, and qualitative methods to explore the lived experience of sonic interaction and the entanglement of technologies with social and material contexts.

Having recently completed a PhD in Media and Arts Technology at Queen Mary University of London, Nicole is now a Research Associate in the Augmented Instruments Laboratory at Imperial College London. She also teaches critical research skills to music producers at the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance and works as a freelance composer for screen, stage, and public artworks. Current projects include Moments of Grace, a permanent sound installation for St Thomas’s Hospital in central London.

Academic Qualifications

— PhD Media & Arts Technology, Queen Mary University of London
— MMus Sonic Arts, Goldsmiths, University of London
— BMus Music, King's College London

Projects

Human-Sound Interaction
Exploring the relational experience of (in)audible installation art

Publications

Thinking with Sound: Exploring the Experience of Listening to an Ultrasonic Art Installation

Proc. ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI)

Hawaii, USA

2024

N. Robson, A. McPherson and N. Bryan-Kinns

On Mediating Sound, Space and Experience: Interviews with Situated Sound Art Practitioners

Organised Sound

2021

N. Robson, N. Bryan-Kinns and A. McPherson

Being With The Waves: An Ultrasonic Art Installation Enabling Rich Interaction Without Sensors

Proc. New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME)

Auckland, New Zealand

2022

N. Robson, A. McPherson and N. Bryan-Kinns

Negotiating Entanglements in the Composition and Curation of an Ultrasonic Art Installation

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Canberra, Australia

2025

N. Robson, A. McPherson and N. Bryan-Kinns

Listening Together-Apart: On the Social Mediation of Sound Installation Listening

20th International Audio Mostly Conference (AM '25)

Coimbra, Portugal

2025

N. Robson, A. McPherson and N. Bryan-Kinns