Research Design

I do serious research, to influence policy, help decision-makers, and discover things about the world.  I also do fun experimental demonstrations.  I would broadly say my experimental design’s main features are: 1) can-do attitude, 2) technology with a twist, and 3) carefully designed control experiments.  The research leads obviously toward applications, and the topics include music and soundscape (see above), relationships and communication, and how the body and the mind are linked subconsciously.  On this page (above) you will find media coverage of my research for the Noise Abatement Society, a UK NGO, and you can find a case study of my commercial research here.

I am very active in academic research, and in the last five years I have published over 20 academic papers in the peer-reviewed literature. The subject areas of my research is very broad, and might be summarised for the media as “How the Body Responds to External Events”. Formally, I am a physiologist, and my work encompasses molecular physiology to psychobiology. In my research on human movement and physiology, I make measurements such as motion capture, electrocardiograms (ECGs), electromyograms (EMGs), galvanic skin responses (GSR or EDR), and breathing (rate and depth). These measurements, summarised under the terms subconscious behaviour and peripheral physiology of the autonomic nervous system, represent the tools by which I examine human behaviours such as nonverbal communication, pleasure, etc.

I have an international reputation on the study of ‘long QT syndrome’, which is a disorder of the heart that causes sudden death; my BSMS website covers that research in detail, but it is written for the academic specialist, rather than for the general public.