Queen Mary hosts inaugural event of new London Interdisciplinary Music Research Initiative
Yesterday (29th April 2026), the Centre for Digital Music (C4DM), part of the School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, hosted the inaugural event of the London Interdisciplinary Music Research Initiative (LIMRI) - bringing together leading researchers and practitioners from across London to explore the science, scholarship, and art of expert musical performance.
The afternoon workshop, titled Interdisciplinary Conversations on Expert Performance, took place at Queen Mary University of London's Mile End Campus and featured four invited speakers from King's College London, Imperial College London, City St George's University of London, and the Royal College of Music.
LIMRI is a newly launched cross-London network designed to foster collaboration and dialogue between researchers working across music, technology, science and the arts. The initiative is co-led by Dr Charalampos Saitis, Lecturer in Digital Music Processing alongside colleagues from Goldsmiths, Kingston University London, and King's College London.
The workshop featured four talks and a panel discussion, with speakers addressing topics ranging from the design of new musical instruments and AI modelling of performance to the psychology of stage expertise. Speakers included Professor Elaine Chew (King's College London), Professor Andrew McPherson (Imperial College London), Dr Mira Benjamin (City St George's), and Dr George Waddell (Royal College of Music / Imperial College London). The event closed with a reception and networking session with live music from C4DM students, hosted in the C4DM Studios.
LIMRI was formally launched in December 2025 at the 20th edition of the Digital Music Research Network (DMRN) annual workshop, which has been hosted at QMUL for many years until 2024.
Yesterday's workshop was the first in a series of themed research events that LIMRI plans to host at different institutions across London. Further details about the initiative can be found on the LIMRI website.