​WFAE BOARD - AFFILIATE REPRESENTATIVES

The WFAE is composed of nine affiliated groups that together form the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology. Each affiliate has an elected representative on the governing board. The current representatives are listed below.
American Society for Acoustic Ecology (ASAE)
Jay Needham is a sound artist, electro-acoustic composer, teacher and scholar who received his MFA from The School of Art at California Institute of the Arts in 1989. Needham's sound art, works for radio and visual art have appeared at museums, festivals and on the airwaves worldwide. Through applied aspects of his research, Needham strives to affect positive change and bridge the gap between the arts and the sciences. He is a member of the boards of the World Forum of Acoustic Ecology, the Institute for Neotropical Conservation and the R. Buckminster Fuller Dome Home. Needham is also Interim Director of The Global Media Research Center at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Website
Australian Forum for Acoustic Ecology (AFAE)
Dr. Leah Barclay is an Australian sound artist, composer and researcher working at the intersection of art, science and technology. She specialises in electroacoustic music, acoustic ecology and emerging fields of biology exploring environmental patterns and changes through sound. Her work has been commissioned, performed and exhibited to wide acclaim internationally by organisations including UNESCO, Ear to the Earth, Al Gore’s Climate Reality and the IUCN. She is currently the director of Biosphere Soundscapes and a research fellow at Griffith University in Australia where she is leading a portfolio of research in acoustic ecology and climate change. ​Website
Canadian Association for Acoustic Ecology (CASE/ACÉS )
Tyler Kinnear is an adjunct instructor of music at Western Carolina University. He completed his Ph.D. in musicology at the University of British Columbia in May 2017, with a dissertation examining conceptions of nature in contemporary sonic art. Tyler’s teaching and research interests include music and the environment, sound ethnography, and music and advocacy. His written work can be found in the Ecomusicology Review, Music & Politics, Organised Sound, and Soundscape: The Journal of Acoustic Ecology. Website
Finnish Society for Acoustic Ecology (FSAE)
Simo Alitalo is a Finnish sound artist whose sound installations and radio works have been exhibited and broadcast in New York, Phoenix, Berlin, Cologne, Gothenburg, Quebec, Auckland, and Perth as well as in Finland at the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma. Simo's projects often emerge from basic question of acoustemology: what do we know about the world through the sense of hearing, and how does what we hear affect the way we understand the world. He is currently working on his dissertation at the University of the Arts Helsinki. Website
Hellenic Society for Acoustic Ecology (HSAE)
Andreas Mniestris is an electroacoustic music composer, saxophone player and sound engineer born in Piraeus, Greece. Since 1995 he has lived in Corfu where he teaches at the Music Department of Ionian University as an Associate Professor of Electroacoustic Music Composition. He is currently the director of the Music Department’s Electroacoustic Music Research Laboratory [EPHMEE]. Mr. Mniestris is a founding member of the Hellenic Association of Electroacoustic Music Composers and the Hellenic Society for Acoustic Ecology. Website
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Japan Association for Soundscape Ecology (JASE)
​Tadahiko Imada is Professor at Hirosaki University in Japan, teaching music education based on the concept of soundscape. He holds a BMus from Kunitachi College of Music in Tokyo; an MA from Simon Fraser University where he studied as a recipient of the Government of Canada Award; and his PhD is from the University of British Columbia in Canada. Dr. Imada is co-author of A Little Sound Education (together with R. Murray Schafer, Tokyo: Shunjusha, 1996, 2009); Music Education Policy and Implementation: International Perspectives (co-edited with Chi Cheung Leung and Rita Yip, Hirosaki University Press, 2008) and The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy in Music Education (edited by Wayne Bowman and Ana Luca Fruga, Oxford University Press, 2012).
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WFAE BOARD: EXECUTIVE OFFICES
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President
Eric Leonardson is an accomplished Chicago-based composer, radio artist, sound designer, instrument inventor, improvisor, visual artist, and teacher. He is Executive Director of the World Listening Project (founded in 2008) and founder (in 2009) of the Midwest Society for Acoustic Ecology. He is currently an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Sound at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Website
Vice President
Dr. Leah Barclay is an Australian sound artist, composer and researcher working at the intersection of art, science and technology. She specialises in electroacoustic music, acoustic ecology and emerging fields of biology exploring environmental patterns and changes through sound. Her work has been commissioned, performed and exhibited to wide acclaim internationally by organisations including UNESCO, Ear to the Earth, Al Gore’s Climate Reality and the IUCN. She is currently the director of Biosphere Soundscapes and a research fellow at Griffith University in Australia where she is leading a portfolio of research in acoustic ecology and climate change. Website
​Vice President
Eric Powell is a sound artist and composer working with a variety of presentation methods including stereo and multi-channel tape composition, and performing with integrated live electronics as well as creating site-specific and interactive installations. His work examines the intersection points between space, place and sound. Currently working towards a PhD at Concordia University, Eric's work has been heard throughout North America, Europe and Asia with recent presentations in Montreal, Prague, Limerick, and Dubai. Website
Past Treasurer and Past President
​Nigel Frayne (1952–2018) was a sound designer working with museums, aquariums, science and exhibition centres, theme parks and arts and leisure precincts from San Diego to West Papua, Bunbury (Western Australia) to Singapore, Genoa to Auckland. In 1996 he joined the WFAE and formed Resonant Designs, specialising in Soundscape and Electroacoustic Design. Website

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Secretary
Tyler Kinnear is a PhD candidate in musicology at the University of British Columbia. His dissertation Music in Nature, Nature in Music: Sounding the Environment in Contemporary Composition examines conceptions of nature in music since 1970. His other interests include sound ethnography; music and advocacy; and histories and theories of listening. Tyler has contributed to the Ecomusicology Review, Music & Politics,Organised Sound, and Soundscape: The Journal of Acoustic Ecology. Tyler organizes public listening events as well as performs and composes with the sonic environment. Website


WFAE COMMUNICATIONS
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Editor-in-Chief: Soundscape: The Journal of Acoustic Ecology
​Dr. Leah Barclay is an Australian sound artist, composer and researcher working at the intersection of art, science and technology. She specialises in electroacoustic music, acoustic ecology and emerging fields of biology exploring environmental patterns and changes through sound. Her work has been commissioned, performed and exhibited to wide acclaim internationally by organisations including UNESCO, Ear to the Earth, Al Gore’s Climate Reality and the IUCN. She is currently the director of Biosphere Soundscapes and a research fellow at Griffith University in Australia where she is leading a portfolio of research in acoustic ecology and climate change. ​Website
Past Editor-in-Chief: Soundscape: The Journal of Acoustic Ecology
Dr. Phylis Johnson is Professor of Sound & New Media in the College of Mass Communication & Media Arts at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. She is Editor of Soundscape: The Journal of Acoustic Ecology and the Editor of The Journal of Radio and Audio Media. She serves as machinima reviews editor for The Journal of Gaming and Virtual Worlds. She has written four books in media studies, as well as numerous chapters and articles dealing with issues in sound, new media and media studies. She operates a sim within Second Life on behalf of her university, in partnership with the University of Western Australia, with dedicated space to a several-layered interactive in-world lab used for teaching sound studies.
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Past Editor-in-Chief: Soundscape: The Journal of Acoustic Ecology
Hildegard Westerkamp is a composer, radio artist and sound ecologist. She uses environmental sounds almost exclusively as the "language" for her compositional work, much of which comments on aspects of the soundscape and on our state of listening. Born in Germany, she moved to Canada in 1968 and in the early '70s worked with Canadian composer Murray Schafer on the World Soundscape project. She is a founding member of the World Forum on Acoustic Ecology (WFAE) and continues to compose, travel, and lecture all over the world. She remains associated with Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia, where she lives and works. Website
Editor WFAE News Quarterly
Jon Pluskota is a sound engineer and producer, but considers himself a sound ‘generalist’ as his professional works include traditional music recording projects, mix-to-picture works, creative sound design works, and experimental sound projects. His recent work incorporates both traditional and experimental techniques by expanding upon production practices using artistic approaches in natural and artificial environments to frame the works. His desire is to reinvigorate the sound experience by breaking away from the confines of expectation in the production processes traditionally associated with commercial and artistic sound works. Jon received his degrees (B.A., M.A., M.B.A., and Ph.D.) from Southern Illinois University Carbondale and is currently an Assistant Professor of Mass Communication & Journalism, Entertainment Industry at The University of Southern Mississippi. His research interests include applied production practices, aural aesthetics, and the perceptual effects of sound. Website
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Coordinator, Soundscape Explorations
Gary Ferrington is Past WFAE Secretary and Webmaster; he continues as coordinator of Soundscape Explorations, a directory of short videos related to acoustic ecology. Ferrington retired from the University of Oregon in 1998 and has since become a freelance journalist focusing on contemporary classical music in the US state of Oregon. His background is in the field of Instructional Systems Technology and Cinema studies with a MS degree in IST from the University of Southern California.