AHRC grant hits the right note

Dr Michael Edwards, Programme Director for the MSc in Digital Composition and Performance, has received six-figure Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funding to bring his music composition software to public release.

His software, slippery chicken, has been developed for algorithmic composition that uses specially developed computer programmes for making music.

Composition tool

The software was initially developed by Dr Edwards to meet his own specific composition needs.

However, as the project evolved he developed some general-purpose software tools that would be of wider benefit to other composers.

The AHRC grant will enable the software to be formally documented, fully tested, and packaged for public use, in order for it to become available for general download.

Worldwide audience

Dr Edwards has been teaching at the University since 2002, and his compositions have been performed internationally.

He is also an active improviser on laptop, saxophones, and MIDI wind controller and has performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival.

August grants

This AHRC was just one of 18 grants awarded to the College of Humanities and Social Science during August.

The College of Science & Engineering received 36 awards during August.

Among these was a six-figure NERC grant for Dr Thomas Little’s study examining the genetics and evolution of maternal effects on parasite resistance.

Awards granted to the College of Medicine & Veterinary Medicine include a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grant for Dr Igor Rudan’s work on neonatal infections.