28-10-26 RNCM Ethics and Practice/Artistic research

Join us in Manchester at the Royal Northern College of Music for a study day on the intersections between ethics (both institutional research ethics and the ethics of musical performance and composition outside the academy, AND how these overlap).

Oct 28th, 12:30 – 17:30, at the RNCM.

https://www.rncm.ac.uk/events/rncm-research-forum-workshop-afternoon/

Speakers

Dr Lauren Redhead (Goldsmith, University of London) keynote researcher and workshop leader

Dr Scott McLaughlin (University of Leeds), Dr Mira Benjamin (City St George’s, University of London), Prof Wiebke Thormählen (RNCM) curators

About

This interactive sandpit and workshop afternoon brings together artistic practice researchers including PhD students working in sound and music to explore the ethical dimensions of their work. Through collaborative discussion, hands-on activities, and knowledge sharing, participants will engage with challenges around consent, authorship, representation, cultural sensitivity, and the responsibilities of working with communities, technologies, and materials in creative research. 

Designed as a supportive space for experimentation and exchange, the afternoon will combine short provocations with participatory exercises, enabling attendees to critically reflect on their own practices while learning from others. Whether navigating field recordings, working with collaborators, or developing practice-as-research methodologies, participants will leave with practical tools and fresh perspectives to inform ethical decision-making in their artistic work. 

Biography 

Lauren Redhead is a composer of experimental music, a performer of contemporary music for the organ, and an author of texts on 20th and 21st century music and practice research. Her recent work has been concerned with the methodological critique of practice research and the development of methodologies within practice research. She has been a contributor to the Practice Research Advisory Group (PRAG), JISC, the UK Reproducibility Network, and the Royal Musical Association (RMA) regarding this area.  Her practice research was the joint recipient of the 2024 RMA Practice Research Prize and was highly commended in 2023. Lauren is the Head of School for Music, English, and Theatre at Goldsmiths, University of London, where she is also the co-chair of the University’s practice research group. She was previously the co-director for the Centre for Practice Based Research in the Arts at Canterbury Christ Church University from 2014 to 2018. 

Share your ideas

If you’re interested in sharing an issue in the opening sandpit, please submit a summary of no more than 200 words along with a 100-word bio to research@rncm.ac.uk by 22nd Oct 2026. We will do our best to accommodate and/or cluster issues and topics together.