Creative industries

We’re pioneering research to make music more inclusive, examining the impact of AI on the industry, composing and performing with local and international artists, pushing the limits of computer-generated music, and investigating our relationship with social media.

• Dr Maria Witek uses brain-monitoring equipment to understand embodied timing and disability in DJ practice.
• Professor Annie Mahtani leads the Sounding Change programme to support under-represented groups on a 10-month artist residency with the Department of Music.
• Professor Michael Zev Gordon composes and publishes orchestral and choral works that are regularly performed and broadcast around the world.
• Renowned jazz drummer Jonathan Silk coaches, conducts and performs with students, while also producing music with famous artists and his own jazz quartet, FORJ.
• BEAST and Electroacoustic Music Studios are at the forefront of research into composition for large-scale multichannel electroacoustic systems.
• Dr Christopher Haworth collaborates on the Music and Artificial Intelligence project and is researching deepfake pop music.
• Dr Chen Zhu’s work investigates how the law can best protect intellectual property in songs in a digital age.
• Professor Ruth Page’s research explores how people communicate in social media contexts and leads the ESRC-funded project, Influencer Stories of Mental Health and Young People.
• Professional violinist Professor Andrew Kirkman works on the sacred music of the fifteenth century, directing a professional vocal ensemble called The Binchois Consort.
• University Music delivers more than 130 concerts and events each year, across the University campus and the wider city, open to all students, staff and the local community.

We’re collaborating with industry and academic partners in film and television locally and around the world, leading sector research, and enabling staff and students to develop their own creative projects using our state-of-the-art equipment and editing suites.

• Dr Christopher Nunn directed the University’s first feature-length film, Children of the Wicker Man, involving our PhD candidates in film and creative writing.
• As our Honorary Professor in the Creative Industries, Downton Abbey producer Gareth Neame helps provide internships and placements for our students in the television industry.
• Professor Rob Stone heads the B-Film research centre, hosting international conferences, famous guest speakers and regular film screenings.
• Dr Catherine Lester leads the AHRC-funded Youth and Horror Research Network, with regular conferences and festival screenings.
• Our annual One-Minute Movie competition is open to all students, staff and alumni.

We’re leading the world in the study and performance of Shakespeare and in recognising and developing the immersive arts as an emerging creative industry, with our academics working as practicing professionals on eclectic co-productions with dance and theatre makers.

• Our exclusive partnership with the Royal Shakespeare Company offers unique access and collaborative opportunities to our students and researchers.
• Our Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-upon-Avon hosts world-renowned academics and a biennial international conference, and is part of global network of Shakespearean organisations in Japan, China, Europe and North America.
• Co-founded by Dr Joanna Bucknall with the support of the University, the Immersive Experience Network is the world’s first professional body for the immersive industry, providing guidance, knowledge-sharing and influencing government policy.
• Professor Annie Mahtani collaborates with theatre and dance companies and is co-director of the Birmingham-based collective, SOUNDkitchen.
• Professor Adam Ledger’s Bone Ensemble theatre group has helped further environmental understanding and colonial legacy in a variety of community theatre projects.

We offer all students and researchers extensive opportunities for academic-student content creation, using state-of-the-art podcasting, filming, recording and editing studios, performance spaces and iMac labs, including new language labs and facilities for virtual reality and motion capture.

Undergraduate

• BA Cultural and Creative Industries
• BA Drama and Film
• BA Drama and Creative Writing
• BA Film and Creative Writing
• BMus Music

Postgraduate

• MA Digital Media and Creative Industries
• MA Film and Television: Research and Production
• MA Creative Writing
• MA Music
• PhD Film Studies – Audio Visual