Music Futures call for applications: £18K available to support music-related projects

View the full Call for Proposals

First launched in 2021-22, Music Futures brings together UCL academics with an interest in music from a wide range of disciplines – from engineering, through the humanities, the fine arts, science and technology studies to cognitive neuroscience – in the absence of a dedicated music department.

The aims of the initiative are threefold:

• to connect UCL scholars with an interest in music, and build a lasting community among them
• to connect the UCL community with creatives, and with a wider London public
• to foster research and dialogue between scholars and musicians, research, and knowledge transfer and public engagement

Up to £18,000 is available for the projects funded under this call. We invite proposals for work costing from a few hundred pounds up to a maximum of £2,500.

This year's call welcomes applications for projects from UCL colleagues (academic and professional services), or teams including at least one UCL academic. PhD students are welcome to apply, in cooperation with an established UCL academic. All proposals need to be collaborative and include a research element. We particularly encourage critical interdisciplinary work, and projects that enable conversation between musicians and academics, between creative practice and scholarship. We further welcome applications for projects that build collaborations between UCL researchers and external institutions, actors or venues.

Sandpit workshop, 15 December, 2-4pm 

As last year, this is an opportunity to pitch a project idea and find collaborators, but also more generally to make connections with likeminded UCL colleagues. Colleagues from the Royal Academy of Music will attend as well to look out for possible collaborations. Participants are invited to present an idea, however well defined, in a few minutes. Participation is not a requirement for submitting a proposal to the call. Please complete this two-minute survey by Monday 21 November if you’d like to attend and/or present.

The call for proposals will close on Monday 9th January 2023. Please submit your application using the provided form below and emailing it to Claudia Sternberg at c.sternberg@ucl.ac.uk