Shaping Space: Integrating Immersive Audio into Creative and Production Pipelines. Createch Frontiers Collaborative Doctoral Award

About the Project

The College of Arts and Law invites applications to two Collaborative Doctoral Awards commencing in the 2026/7 academic year. These four-year, full-time studentships, co-hosted between the University of Birmingham and a Creative Sector project partner, are funded by UKRI via CreaTech Frontiers.

Research context: why this project and why now?

Immersive and spatial audio have rapidly expanded from specialist domains into mainstream creative sectors, including live events, virtual production, film/TV postproduction, games, and emerging AR experiences.

Industry-standard systems such as d&b Soundscape and Dolby Atmos have raised expectations for high-quality spatial sound, yet the workflows that connect academic research, commercial production, and creative practice remain underdeveloped. Artists and producers often lack access to advanced facilities or the training required to work confidently with spatial audio, while university-based research tends to operate outside industry timelines and technologies. As a result, immersive audio is frequently treated as a late-stage addition rather than a driver of early creative decision-making.

This CDA arrives at a strategic moment. BOM (Birmingham Open Media) will open new live event and virtual production facilities in April 2028, positioning the organisation at the centre of a growing regional screen and creative industries ecosystem.

Although the West Midlands is attracting high-value film and television production, the region still lacks high end post-production capacity, especially in audio. BEAST, by contrast, has an internationally recognised history of spatial audio research and creative practice but seeks stronger connections to commercial production pipelines and sector-facing innovation. The project will also benefit from access to the Birmingham Transformative Humanities Lab’s immersive technology facilities, which expand the scope for experimentation across VR/AR and mixed reality contexts.

This project, therefore, bridges BEAST’s research-led spatial audio expertise with BOM (Birmingham Open Media)’s hybrid R&D-industry environment. By situating a researcher at the intersection of these two organisations, the CDA supports the organisations’ ambitions to develop new creative workflows, new knowledge around interoperability and practice, and new models of collaboration between academic and industry contexts.

As virtual production reshapes filmmaking, this project asks how immersive audio might undergo a parallel transformation, shifting from post-production asset to early-stage creative engine.

Project partner: BOM (Birmingham Open Media)

Established in 2014, BOM (Birmingham Open Media) exists to empower communities through inclusive immersive experiences. They're passionate about the potential for immersive technologies to build social connections.

Key research questions

1. How can immersive and spatial audio be integrated from the earliest stages of creative development in live events and virtual production?
2. What workflows, pipelines, and conceptual models can connect research led spatial audio practices (as developed within BEAST) with industry standard production systems such as Dolby Atmos and d&b Soundscape?
3. What knowledge, tools, and training pathways are needed to support artists, producers, and technical teams in navigating multiple spatial audio systems?
4. How can immersive audio contribute to new forms of place based, experiential, and perception shifting artistic work, including outdoor, architectural, AR enabled, and hybrid environments?
5. What elements of spatial audio research translate effectively into industry contexts, do frictions and gaps emerge?

Methodology

This will be a practice-based and collaborative research project, integrating creative production, technical experimentation, and reflective analysis.

• Practice-based investigation: The researcher will design and develop creative outputs in collaboration with BEAST and BOM (Birmingham Open Media), using both studio-based and live performance contexts. These will test conceptual models, prototype workflows, and examine artistic possibilities in immersive audio using both bespoke BEAST systems and industry-standard technologies.
• Fieldwork and embedded observation: Embedded time at BOM (Birmingham Open Media) will enable the researcher to observe production workflows and engage with developers, 3D modellers, VP specialists, and artists, contributing to R&D where appropriate.
• Survey and mapping of technologies: A comparative survey of spatial audio systems and workflows will inform both creative experimentation and knowledge exchange.
• Placebased and experiential practice: Experiments in outdoor or architectural spaces across Birmingham will test spatial audio’s ability to shift perception and shape site-responsive artistic experiences.
• Reflective and critical analysis: Writing and analysis will situate the practice within wider debates on immersive media, innovation, accessibility, and emerging creative economies.
• Use of BTHL facilities: The researcher has access to Birmingham Transformative Humanities Lab’s immersive technology facilities, including VR headsets (VIVE XR Elite, Meta), full face/body tracking, and specialist VR/AR research software to facilitate explorations into how spatial audio interacts with mixedreality and motiontracked environments*.*

How the research benefits from the collaborative context

This CDA is defined by the interplay between BEAST’s research culture and BOM (Birmingham Open Media)’s industry-facing creative environment. BEAST provides longstanding expertise in spatial audio composition, performance, and system design; flexible research led tools and practices. BOM offers a hybrid R&D sandbox situated between artistic practice and professional film/TV workflows; access to virtual production, live event, and postproduction environments; a diverse community of developers, modellers, producers, creative technologists and emerging artists.

Who can apply?

• These studentships are open to Home and International students for full-time, campus-based doctoral research commencing study at the start of the 2026/27 academic year.
• Applicants must meet all requirements for doctoral study at the University of Birmingham, including, where relevant, English language proficiency.
• Candidates should have, or be completing, a master’s degree in a relevant subject.
• Experience of working with industry partners, or the demonstrable potential to do so successfully, would be an advantage.
• The studentships will be awarded to outstanding candidates who demonstrate the potential to make a scholarly impact aligned with both the CreaTech Frontiers project and the College of Arts and Law’s strategic research priorities.

How to Apply

Please submit your application via email to calscholarshipprizes@contacts.bham.ac.uk. It should include:

• A CV (max 2 pages). This must cover your academic record (including degree classifications), relevant work experience, and any other information that indicates your preparedness and suitability for collaborative doctoral study;
• A Research Proposal (max 3 pages) that explains how you would respond to the relevant project
• The names, affiliations and email addresses of two referees. Please ensure that you have contacted your referees in advance, and that they are willing to supply references on request.

Funding Notes

Each studentship includes a stipend at the UKRI rate (£21,805) and a tuition fee waiver.

Please submit your application via email to calscholarshipprizes@contacts.bham.ac.uk

Following shortlisting and interview, the successful candidate will need to apply for, and be offered, a place on the relevant programme of doctoral study at the University of Birmingham. You do not need to apply to a programme of study in advance.

The deadline for receipt of applications is 12:00 midday UK time on 27 May 2026.