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Supervisory Team

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PhD Supervisor- Prof. Ursula Hurley, University of Salford

Poetic inquiry, autoethnography, transdisciplinarity, practice-as-research, disability studies, and feminist research

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Co-Supervisor- Dr. Adam Hart, University of Salford

Aural diversity, neurodiversity, music composition, audio, music-based practice as research,

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Co-Supervisor- Dr. Pavel Prokopič, University of Salford

Experimental film, expanded cinema, film phenomenology, affect theory, poetic film-based practice-as-research​​​

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External Advisors 

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Prof. John Drever Director, LAURA, Cambridge Digital Humanities, University of Cambridge

Advisor for Hospital Noises. Soundscape studies, acoustics, sonic arts, listening practices, and sound art

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Assoc. Prof. Jon Robson, Department of Philosophy, University of Nottingham

Advisor for The Numinous Ear. Aesthetics, epistemology, ethics, metaphysics, and philosophy of religion

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Dr. Helen Kara, Independent Researcher and Author
Creative research methodologies, qualitative inquiry, neurodiversity-affirming research, 

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Dr Roula-Marie Dib, Founding Director of the London-Arts-Based Research Centre and Indelible Literary and Arts Journal

Arts-Based Research, Literature, Poetic Inquiry, Creative Writing, Jungian Arts/Psychology

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Current Research Projects​​​

 

The Numinous Ear: Autistic Listening and Aural Diversity as a Gateway to the Divine and Sublime — Exploring Sonic Consciousness through Phenomenology, Panpsychism, and Process Philosophy

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This project explores how autistic hearing can give rise to intense sonic encounters with the numinous, the mysterium tremendum et fascinans — as experiences of awe, terror, and sublimity. Drawing on Rudolf Otto’s concept of the numinous and Carl Jung’s later engagement with it through archetypes and individuation, it considers how neurodivergent auditory experience may evoke transcendental and affective states of consciousness.

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Autistic listening often involves heightened sensitivity to sonic textures, patterns, and intensities that neuromajority perception filters out. These experiences parallel Otto’s numinous qualities: overwhelming power (tremendum), profound mystery (mysterium), and compelling fascination (fascinans). Being simultaneously overwhelmed by and drawn to sound mirrors the paradoxical nature of these encounters, inducing awe and even terror beyond ordinary sensory experience.

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By reframing neurodivergent auditory perception as a form of knowledge rather than disorder, the project asks how sound mediates between perception and the vibrational substrate of reality. Informed by Merleau-Ponty’s embodied perception, Ihde’s phenomenology of listening, Nancy’s resonance, panpsychism, and process philosophy, it asks: is sound an external force, or a co-creator of inner reality? .

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Hospital Noises: The Hidden Orchestra of Hospital Machines — Sonic Autobiography and Autistic Listening: A Transdisciplinary Arts-Based Research Inquiry

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This project explores autistic auditory experience within hospital environments through a phenomenological, transdisciplinary arts-based research framework, contributing to aural diversity. It combines ward-based field recordings of hospital machine sounds, autoethnographic narrative and intuitive music improvisation informed by Husserl’s epoché and Merleau-Ponty’s embodied perception.

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The project explores hospital machine sounds as carriers of memory, emotion, and sensory meaning and how they can be transformed into compositions and multimodal creative work that convey sensory states shaped by noise pollution. By privileging the body as a site of knowledge, the inquiry considers hospital machine sounds as complex sensory and affective agents. ​​​​

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Education

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University of Salford (2024–2028)
PhD in Music / Film / Arts
Leverhulme Trust Aural Diversity Research Doctoral Hub (LAURA)

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University of Greenwich (2022–2024)
PGCE (FE, QTLS), Level 7

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Goldsmiths, University of London (2018–2020)
MA Filmmaking (Screen Documentary) – BAFTA Reuben Scholar
Honorary MA Radio Student (granted by Professor Tim Crook)

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University of Cambridge (2016–2017)
PGCert Child & Adolescent Psychotherapeutic Counselling

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Goldsmiths, University of London (2009–2012)
BA Sociology

 

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Teaching and Pedagogic Practice

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I have over six years’ experience teaching across secondary, alternative provision, and further education, delivering courses in music, media, social sciences, humanities, and the creative arts.

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I hold a PGCE, my teaching is informed by constructivist and humanistic approaches, with a focus on student-centred learning, critical thinking, and inclusive practice. I have extensive experience supporting neurodivergent learners and students with Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD), developing adaptive approaches that foster responsive and equitable learning environments.

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I have worked as Course Lead, Programme Manager, and lecturer across a range of Level 3 programmes, including Access to Psychology, Access to Social Sciences, Access to Teaching, the RSL Vocal Diploma, and UAL Diplomas in Creative and Performing Arts, with a particular focus on supporting progression to higher education.