The LuCiD team collaborated with Lancaster University's ISS Innovation Hub to create engaging research experiences for attendees at the Lancaster Music Festival in October 2024. The innovative partnership allowed festival-goers to explore cutting-edge developmental science through interactive virtual reality exhibits, talks, and hands-on activities. This collaboration formed a key component of the festival's "Campus in the City" initiative, which sought to connect academic research with local communities through creative and accessible experiences centred around music and sound.
Virtual Reality Experiences
Working with Lancaster University's Innovation Hub, researchers created three immersive VR installations that brought the Infant and Child Development Lab's findings to festival attendees:
- Jukebox in the Womb: Visitors could step into a baby's auditory world before birth, experiencing how sounds—including tracks from local musicians Massive Wagons and Lowes—are heard in the womb.
- The Imagination Cave: This innovative installation explored the relationship between music and imagination, using artificial intelligence to transform visitors' musical associations into unique digital art pieces.
- Music and Deafness: Participants gained insight into different hearing experiences through this educational tool that simulated various levels of hearing loss and demonstrated music perception through cochlear implants.
Over 300 people experienced these VR activities during the festival, with participants spending longer than expected exploring each exhibit.
Psychology of Music Talk
As part of the collaboration, Professor Chris Plack delivered a talk on the Psychology of Music to an audience of over 60 attendees at the Storey Lecture Theatre. The presentation explored the science behind our responses to music and hearing loss, with one attendee describing it as "fascinating and a very welcome addition to the festival."
Infant Development Research Exhibition
The Lancaster Infant and Child Development Lab team exhibited their research at the Storey Gallery family zone, where visitors could learn about infant development through interactive displays and activities.
The festival's Impact Report noted that the university engagement "brought research to life in completely new and such accessible and engaging ways."
The collaboration was part of the festival's "Campus in the City" initiative, which featured 12 performances, 26 participation events, and engaged 936 participants in total. This successful partnership demonstrated how developmental research can be made accessible and engaging to diverse audiences through creative, interactive approaches.
Author
LuCiD
The ESRC International Centre for Language and Communicative Development (LuCiD) is a five year research collaboration working with partners from across the world to transform our understanding of how children learn to communicate with language.