Research
Lecturer in Creative Sound Design and Composition (Music), University of Glasgow
ORCID ↗Google Scholar ↗University of Glasgow ↗
Current projects
SYZYGYImmersive Arts UK / Brazil, 2026–27
Research around immersive systems, electronic instrument design and situated technological practices, with a new strand on creative technology in postcolonial contexts at Universidade Estadual de Campinas. More ↗
Posthuman Immigrant ToolkitOrpheus Institute Visiting Fellowship, Ghent, 2027
A fellowship in Futures in Artistic Research, developing an open-source toolkit, code library and workshop materials for accessible instrument design with AI and new technologies.
Intelligences from the UndergroundInternational research network, 2026–27
A network on underground, ecological and more-than-human forms of intelligence, focused on creative and community-centred approaches to AI. The first symposium took place at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in June 2026. More ↗
Climbing on LymeCollaborative artistic and health research, 2026–27
Multimedia research with visual artist Kate Steenhauer, clinical academics and health-research partners, exploring women’s lived experiences of chronic and complex health conditions, diagnostic uncertainty and medical recognition. More ↗
Chimère CommunitiesCommunity-led AI arts research, 2023–
Co-developing AI systems and artistic methods through workshops, installations and participatory archives across South Africa, Lesotho, Switzerland and the UK. More ↗
Publications
- 2026Conversations with Monday on Wednesday: An Ontological Audit with AISappho, M.Underground Intelligences · Article
- 2026Innovating listening-led classroom practice in primary education: Sounding digital playgroundsSappho, M., MacVicar, K., Burnard, P., Dufeu, F., & Clarke, M.Impact, 27 · Article
- In pressMushrooms and machines: Developing a hybrid socio-creative practiceSappho, M.Digital Creativity · Article
- In pressPosthuman Immigrations: Creative Knowing in an Age of New WorldsSappho, M.AAWM Journal of Music and Nature · Article
- 2026Sappho in Magnesia: feedback, magnets, motors and noise in the Sapphnetix SystemSappho, M.ECHO #8: Electronic Luthierie · Article
- 2026
- 2025New Directions in Musical Collaborative CreativityMacDonald, R., DeNora, T., Sappho, M., Burke, R., & Birrell, R.Oxford University Press · Book · DOI9 cited
- 2025I would be an improviser even if I was born on the moonMcPherson, H., & Sappho, M.Critical Studies in Improvisation / Études critiques en improvisation · Article · DOI4 cited
- 2025Driving Ms. Chimère: Developing community-led interdisciplinary artistic works in collaboration with AISappho, M., O’Hear, J., Ponlot, N., Frank, C., MacDonald, M., & ChimèreECHO · Article · DOI1 cited
- 2025Developing Software to Promote Creative Play in Music EducationClarke, M., Dufeu, F., & Sappho, M.Proceedings of the 50th International Computer Music Conference, Boston · Conference Paper
- 2025Making mycorrhizal noise: hypermedia, digitality, and interpreting the parafictional universes of the NoisebringersMcPherson, D. H. J., Sappho, M., & Catherin, B.Liminalities, 20(3) · Article
- 2025Resonant Networks: Feminist Improvisation across Sites, Identities and TechnologiesMittal, S., Argo, J., MacGlone, U., & Sappho, M.Improfil, 88 · Article
- 2025Tracking the social process: Autosociology and interactive aural analysisSappho, M.Performance Research, On Music · Article · DOI
- 2025Virtualities: Virtues of a techno-socio-creative worldSappho, M.Musik-Diskurse seit 1970, Ergon Verlag · Book Chapter · DOI
- 2024Opening up openings: Zooming in on improvisation in the Theatre of HomeBurke, R. L., Sappho, M., Birrell, R., MacDonald, R., & DeNora, T.Psychology of Music · Article · DOI1 cited
- 2022The Improvisers Cookbook: Mythologising the social in experimental improvisationSappho, M.University of Huddersfield · Thesis2 cited
- 2021Our Virtual Tribe: Sustaining and Enhancing Community via Online Music ImprovisationMacDonald, R., Burke, R., DeNora, T., Sappho, M., & Birrell, R.Frontiers in Psychology, 11 · Article · DOI95 cited
- 2021Donohue+: Developing performer-specific electronic improvisatory accompaniment for instrumental improvisationGillies, S., & Sappho, M.Organised Sound, 26(1), 119–129 · Article · DOI3 cited
- 2020Inventing the language of MushSappho, M., & McPherson, H.Symposium with Huddersfield University and Osaka University · Video Article
- 2020Some Serious Play: Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra telematic musicSappho, M., MacDonald, R., DeNora, T., Burke, R., & Birrell, R.AJIRN conference · Video Article
- 2020Subverting by not subverting: free improvisation dreams in counter logic activismsSappho, M.CERENEM journal · Article
- 2020
Talks
- Keynote on experimental instrument-building and AISplit Screen, Civic House, Glasgow · 2026
- Unrehearsed Futures: Conversations with the Chimère Communities ▶Drama School Mumbai and Embodied Poetics, University of Cape Town · 2025
- Until AI Communities ExistFak’ugesi Festival, Johannesburg · 2024
- Chimère Communities and Radical Community Building with AI ▶AiiA Festival, Geneva · 2023
- play talk play ▶Talk and performance
- Association of British Orchestras ConferenceJanuary · 2025
- Developing Software to Promote Creative Play in Music EducationInternational Computer Music Conference, Boston · 2025
- Artistic Thinking workshopRITU, Liège, with Brice Catherin
- CMI symposium ▶Arts Centre Melbourne · 2018
- Sounding and Listening: Bringing Aurality/Orality into LiteracyOxford University Music Analysis Conference · 2023
- X-Artist: Transhuman Relationships in the Development of Extended Creative BodiesMusic ex Machina, Royal Holloway · 2023
- Tracking the Social Process: Visualizing Community Networks of Global Experimental PracticesAMS-SEM-SMT Joint Conference, New Orleans · 2022
- Networked Social Practices: Contemporary Virtuosity in the Digital AgeRhythm Changes, Conservatorium van Amsterdam · 2022
- Understanding the practice of improvising musicians, through interactive aural analysisJuly · 2022
- The Improvisers Cookbook: Archiving and Analyzing the AssemblageEuropean Music Analysis Conference · 2021
- Interactive Software as a Means of Researching the Creative Process in Free ImprovisationTCPM, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa · 2019
Positions and roles
- Lecturer in Creative Sound Design and Composition (Music), University of Glasgow
- Visiting Fellow, Orpheus Institute, Ghent (2027)
- Research Collaborator, ScenIA (HEM Geneva, IRCAM, Sorbonne)
- Visiting Research Fellow, Geneva University of Music (2025)
- Founder and PI, Underground Intelligences
- Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2025)
- MA supervisor, 19 students to completion
Funders
- AHRC Immersive Arts UK
- Royal Society of Edinburgh
- Creative Scotland
- Pro Helvetia Johannesburg
- NHS Grampian
- Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Athenaeum Award
- European Research Council (IRiMaS, doctoral)
Research profile
115Citations
3h-index
22Publications listed
17Co-authors
Citations from Google Scholar, November 2026.
Research fingerprint
- Improvisation11
- AI5
- Mushrooms4
- Telematic3
- Instrument Design3
- Feminism2