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.
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.
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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 |
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Canadian Association for Sound Ecology (CASE/ACÉS)
Mickey Vallee holds a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Sound Studies at Athabasca University. He uses traditional qualitative methods to understand the personal and collective experiences that researchers, cultural producers and people in everyday life have with emerging sound technologies. He is also experimenting with “inventive” methods to test the value of creative interdisciplinary research and collaboration, including the use of digital apparatuses and storage, and analysis software. He has published three books and over 30 academic articles and chapter contributions on how sound contributes to knowledge in science, philosophy, and the arts. His current research project involves a novel approach to bioacoustics as a lived experience between humans, animals, and the environment, and is situated entirely in the wilderness of Southwest Alberta, Treaty 7 territory of the Blackfoot/Niitsítapi. |
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Finnish Society for Acoustic Ecology (FSAE)
Ari Koivumäki started working with sound in 1980 as a sound engineer in the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE). In the 1990s, he become a lecturer in sound design, taking part (alongside his students) in many soundscape projects and publications together with Finnish Society for Acoustic Ecology since 1999, both in Finland and in greater Europe. Ari has also presented papers at several conferences related to sound engineering, soundscape studies and ambiance. He received his doctorate from Aalto University, School of Art and Design in 2018, where his dissertation focussed on how to benefit soundscape studies within sound design. Currently, Ari is working as a Principal lecturer of media production in Tampere University of Applied Sciences (TAMK). Here, he has participated in R&D programs focusing on digitizing wellbeing services and addressing challenges related to population ageing, in cooperation with companies and public organizations. Website. |
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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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Japanese Association for Soundscape Ecology (JASE)
Dr. 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). Website |
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Midwest Society for Acoustic Ecology (MSAE)
Kristine Diekman is a media artist and educator working in responsive media, sound, drawing, documentary and experimental film, and social practice art. Collaborating with scientists and other artists, she co-creates multi-sensory installations that activate tactility, haptics and deep listening as strategies to enhance intersubjective experiences. Her current collaborative projects include biotremology, specifically insect vibration communication, and inclusive environments. Her latest collaborative museum installation focused on the sonification and haptics of stellar data. Recent documentary film projects include water and environmental justice, proposing new frameworks for political ecologies of water in California. As an educator, she facilitates international workshops in embodied storytelling and physical computing that lead participants through writing, craft, computing, and sound production to create interactive tactile audio interfaces to tell stories. She engages in numerous cultural collectives to bring sound art practices to global communities including The VIBRA Research Network (Europe), Real More Real (US), and TreeCreate (AUS). She has received several awards, grants and residencies, and presents her work world-wide. She is Emeritus Professor in the Art, Media & Design Department at California State University. Website |
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Red Ecología Acústica México (REA_MX)
Fausto E. Rodríguez Manzo is an architect, Master and Doctor in Design from UAM. He holds many positions, including as Research Professor of the Department of Processes and Techniques CyAD UAM-Azc, Head of the Acoustic Analysis and Design Research Area and Laboratory, Professor of Architectural and Urban Design and elective courses (Space, sound and architecture; Acoustics and noise control in buildings; noise and city; Dialogues with music), Professor of the Postgraduate in Design and Urban Studies at UAM-Azc, and National Researcher of the National System of Researchers SNI-CONACYT level 2. An author of specialized books and articles, Fausto currently directs the SEP-CONACYT Basic Science Project: "Environmental noise in the urban space of Mexico City". He carried out acoustic design of the Mateo Herrera Auditorium of the Cultural Forum of Guanajuato, in León, Gto Coordinator of the First Noise Map project for the Metropolitan Area of the Valley of Mexico by UAM-A in collaboration with the SMA to the SMA of the Government of the Federal District between 2009 and 2011. |
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Swiss Society for Acoustic Ecology (SSAE)
Marcus Maeder is an artist, researcher and composer of electronic music. As an author, Maeder has written on a number of topics in the fields of sound art, acoustic ecology, artistic research and digital media. Maeder studied Fine Arts at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences HSLU, Philosophy at the Fernuniversität in Hagen and completed his PhD in Environmental Systems Science at ETH Zürich. He has worked as an editor and producer for the Swiss radio station SRF and has been working as a curator, researcher and lecturer at the Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology (ICST) of the Zurich University of the Arts ZHdK since 2005. Maeder is visiting scientist at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Landscape and Snow Research WSL and currently holds a position as Humboldt Research Fellow at Freie Universität Berlin. |
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UK and Ireland Soundscape Community (UKISC)
Dr. Rob Mackay is an award-winning composer, sound artist and performer. Recent projects have moved towards a cross-disciplinary approach, including geology, soundscape ecology, theatre, audiovisual installation work, and human-computer interaction. His work has been performed in 18 countries (including several performances on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 1 and Radio France), and a number of his pieces have received international awards (Bourges (1997 and 2001), EAR (1999), La Muse en Circuit (2007)). He has held composer residencies at Slovak Radio (Bratislava), La Muse en Circuit (Paris), the Tyrone Guthrie Arts Centre (Ireland), Habitación del Ruido (Mexico City), and CMMAS (Morelia). Website |
WFAE BOARD: EXECUTIVE OFFICERS
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President
Raquel Castro is a researcher, director and curator. Founder and director of the Lisboa Soa sound art festival and the international symposium Invisible Places. She is an integrated researcher at the Centre for Research in Applied Communication, Culture and New Technologies and is currently teaching at Lusófona University, in Lisbon. Her activities as a researcher and curator have resulted in different documentaries, such as Soundwalkers (2008) and SOA (2020), where interviews, sound art and sonic ambiances combine to broaden awareness of sound. SOA is currently part of Netflix's worldwide catalogue, being streamed in more than 190 countries. She is currently curating the Sound Art in Public Spaces exhibition cycle, under the European project Sounds Now. In 2022, Castro founded the association Sonora, which creates and produces transdisciplinary projects at the intersection of art, science, ecology and sound. Sonora | Lisboa Soa | Invisible Places | Vimeo |
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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 |
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Vice-president
Eric Leonardson, a Chicago-based audio artist, often presents on acoustic ecology to new audiences beyond art world contexts, engaging and connecting communities in the interrelationships of sound, listening, and environment. He is Professor, Adjunct in the Department of Art & Technology/Sound Practices at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). Leonardson serves as president of the Midwest Society for Acoustic Ecology (MSAE), established in 2009, and is a co-founder of the World Listening Project (WLP), established in 2008. Leonardson performs internationally with the Springboard, a self-built instrument made in 1994. Website |
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Secretary
Jesse Budel is a composer-performer and sound artist based in Adelaide, South Australia. He recently completed a PhD at Elder Conservatorium of Music, The University of Adelaide (with an Australian Postgraduate Award), focussing on adapting soundscape ecology frameworks and methodologies to creative process, applied in the production of works responding to engagement with specific sites, and related ecosystems and soundscapes. In 2024, Jesse is an Arts South Australia Fellowship for higher-order ambisonics research and creative practice. Currently, he is a Research Associate at The University of Adelaide, and also serves as the Secretary for the Australian Forum for Acoustic Ecology. Website |
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Treasurer
Linda O'Keeffe's work merges equality, science, technology, ethics, society, and communication. Her project "Evolving Ourselves with Unnatural Selection," supported by Creative Scotland and the SETI Institute, explores gene editing and climate adaptation through art and science. O'Keeffe's installation "Hybrid Soundscapes I-IV," part of the "Sounds Like Her" exhibition, reflects on renewable energy's impact on rural areas, based on three years of research. This toured UK galleries from 2017-2020. Her album "Silent Spring" highlights field recordings and challenges perceptions of climate change soundscapes. As the founder of Women in Sound Women on Sound (WISWOS), O'Keeffe promotes diversity in sound art. Recognized by the Arts Council of England in 2018, she traveled to Brazil, delivering talks and workshops, and released two albums. Her book "The Body in Sound, Music and Performance" (2022), features contributions from over 20 women globally. More at www.lindaokeeffe.com. |
WFAE COMMUNICATIONS
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Editor-in-Chief: Acoustic Ecology Review
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 |
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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 |