Stephen Roddy

About

Stephen Roddy is a Composer, Researcher, and Lecturer working in computing and the arts (sound, music, digital) at the Radical Humanities Lab in the Future Humanities Institute and the Department of Digital Humanities at University College Cork (UCC). He is programme director for the MA in Digital Arts and Humanities at UCC and holds a Ph.D. in sonification: the use of sound to perceptualize data and convey information from Trinity College Dublin (TCD). Stephen’s research explores the application of auditory display, internet of things (IoT), and generative systems (incl. AI & ML), in sound and music computing, human-computer interaction and creative arts contexts. This work involves research methods from both engineering design (analytical methods) and the creative arts (practice-based methods), with theoretical roots in cybernetics and embodied cognitive science. Stephen’s previous projects have involved the design of auditory display solutions for large-scale IoT networks and investigated the integration of sonification and AI/ML techniques in generative music, sound art, and digital art applications. Much of this work was carried out under an IRC Postdoctoral Fellowship at CONNECT: the Research Ireland Centre for Future Networks and Communications, at TCD, and subsequently at the Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering at TCD. His work is widely disseminated through peer-reviewed journal publications, book chapters, and conference proceedings. As a member of the committee on Ethically Aligned Design in the Arts (under the IEEE Global Initiative on Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems), he contributed to the IEEE Standards Authority Report on Ethically Aligned Approaches to AI in the Arts. Stephen maintains a vibrant and diverse creative and performing arts practice which forms a core component of his research activity. His artistic projects span a variety of media and styles, including music composition and performance, generative and data-driven music and sound art installation and performance. His work, described as majestic and sweeping yet beautifully unsettling, is frequently performed and installed at home and abroad. His most recent musical release Corpus/Mimesis is available through Fiadh Productions. Recent events have included the Wrong Biennale, New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival and the Earth Rising Festival at the Irish Museum of Modern Art.