Multidisciplinary Research Week 2013- Success

May 7, 2013
by Alison Simmance

The University of Southampton sprang to life during the 17-22nd March when over 1050 attendees joined us for the 3rd annual Multidisciplinary Research Week.

This year’s week long celebration was built on the best cross-disciplinary science and arts from the University of Southampton’s staff and students with a packed programme of talks, hands-on science demonstrations, exhibitions, debates and a film screening. We were also joined by key external speakers who brought insights into policy applications and cutting edge research in relation to our University Strategic Research Groups.

See the full programme here.  The energy and intellectual alchemy of the week certainly inspired ‘ideas worth spreading’ and far exceeded our expectations. Thank you to all our speakers, demonstrators, supporters, volunteers, digital champions, sponsors and attendees for enabling this annual cross-disciplinary event at the University of Southampton to be a huge success.

The week in numbers– see the statistics from MDR Week 2013 below or in the MDRWeek 2013 Final Statistics Flyer.

Blog posts about all our events at #MDRWeek will be coming shortly! Watch this site for news.

Did you miss MDR week 2013?

See all our multimedia outputs online now!

• Full webcasts (videos of all talks).
• Interviews and on the floor views (by ICM Reporting).
• YouTube #MDRWeek (all interviews and videos).
• Blogs from the week.
• See all the power point presentations on slideshare.
• In pictures on pinterest.

Did you miss TEDxSouthamptonUniversity 2013?

• All videos now on YouTube (TedxSotonUni).
• In pictures (Flickr).
• Website for full details.

MDR Week 2013 STATISTICS-

• 23 events (incl. 2 exhibitions and 1 interactive art session) from 17-22^nd March 2013.
• 1057 actual attendees (approx. 10% external).
• First TEDx at the University of Southampton- tickets sold out; new website; IBM sponsorship; 15 speakers; >1000 hits so far on YouTube.
• Prof Mohan Munasinghe– Vice Chair of IPPC/Nobel Prize Winner 2007 (BBC Radio Solent Broadcast & future collaborations).
• First formal celebration of the World Water Day 2013 (150 attendees).
• >70 people attended the ‘Litmus Project: Science & Poetry Exhibition’.
• >120 people attended ‘Question Time: The Brain & Society’, (incl. 40 6^th Formers)
• 15 people created an eco-friendly bag from 60^th Anniversary campaign banner material at ‘Be a Green Shopper’.
• Collaborations: UoS Science & Engineering Festival, WSA, WUN, IBM, Google, Marwell Wildlife, three 6^th Form Colleges.

First year that social media was used!

• 11 blogs (>300 hits in the 1^st week);
• 26 interviews– >500 hits so far on YouTube;
• 17 webcasts from all talks;
• Tedx 15 Videos– >1000 hits so far on YouTube.
• >370 hits to the multidisciplinary website;
• >630 tweets #MDRWeek;
• 3 storifys;
• 3 pinterests.

MDR Week 2014- Your Views

We are now already planning next year’s research week and welcome any suggestions for a possible theme on this. If you have an interesting cross-disciplinary project/initiative or idea and/or wish  to get involved in other ways then please contact us: multidisciplinary@soton.ac.uk

Full details available at: www.southampton.ac.uk/multidisciplinary

Share your experience with us on Twitter #MDRWeek @Multisoton

MDR Week: Blog no 8- 3DBARE, 3D Binaural Audio Rendering Engine

March 15, 2013
by Benjamin Mawson

Join Benjamin Mawson and colleagues to explore how virtual sound is used from the perspective of music, computer programming, immunology and social science at the event ‘3DBARE, 3D Binaural Audio Rendering Engine’ on Tuesday 19th March. An insight into this exciting and multidisciplinary research field can be found below.

3DBARE, 3D Binaural Audio Rendering Engine

By Benjamin Mawson,

In collaboration with Professor Tim Elliott,  Associate Dean, Faculty of Medicine, Dr Godfrey Brandt, Chairman of DAACA, Iyad Assaf, Audio systems developer.

3DBARE is a collaboration between Music and ISVR to build an engine allowing listeners to walk inside a piece of music as though it were a physical structure. The 3DBARE team are collaborating with senior academics from the fields of Medicine and Social Science both to explore new forms of public outreach through sound of bio-medical research and the calibration of theatrical or performative space engendered by emerging forms of cultural interaction

We will be explaining the origins of 3DBARE from the perspective of a composer seeking a way for creations in the digital studio to be possible to explore as though elements in the physical world:  how these explorations have led to collaboration with co-developers of the platform and an exciting cross-disciplinary project with researchers in medicine and social science.

Four presenters will explain the 3D Binaural Audio Rendering Engine and what it means from their own perspective to be using virtual sound to explore their particular field of enquiry: Music and Computer Programming, Immunology and Social Science.

Multidisciplinary approaches in Music are essential to the discovery of new means of communicating to audiences whose modes of listening are rapidly changing with technology: my research is about how to speak to audiences. As a composer I seek forms and means by which to use my art and craft in as practical a form as the church and court composers of former centuries. Collaborations as interesting and potentially effective as this – in terms of altering public understanding come along infrequently. This is a fantastic opportunity for our respective skills and knowledge to serve a common purpose towards greater good and we are enthusiastic to present and discuss our early findings.

RSVP:  http://mdrw_3dbare-eorg.eventbrite.com/

For the latest news and events about the Multidisciplinary Research Week 2013, visit our Multidisciplinary Research website:

www.southampton.ac.uk/multidisciplinary

or follow us on Twitter @MultiSoton #MDRWeek