University awarded Leverhulme International Professorship grant
The University of Huddersfield has been awarded a Leverhulme International Professorship grant from the prestigious Leverhulme Trust.
Professor Steve Waksman, (pictured) currently Elsie Irwin Sweeney Professor of Music and Professor of American Studies at Smith College in Massachusetts, will join the University thanks to the grant, which will also fund six post-doctoral researchers and 12 PhD studentships over the next five years. The maximum grant available was £5,000,000.
He will lead a project, fully funded by the Leverhulme grant, that will study how music and culture have developed since the invention of sound amplification.
A renowned scholar in the study of live music, music genres, music technology and musical instruments, Professor Waksman is also a particular specialist in the study of the electric guitar and rock music, as well as the author of numerous award-winning books and journal articles exploring music and live performance.
The Leverhulme International Professorships enable universities to attract leading scholars from around the world to take up permanent professorial posts in the UK. With the scheme coming to an end, this award to the University of Huddersfield will be the only Leverhulme International Professorship grant awarded for an arts-based project.
An outstanding international reputation for music and music research
“Professor Waksman’s research complements other popular music focused research expertise in music and music technology at Huddersfield, and this grant will make Huddersfield one of the largest research groups studying popular music in the world,” says Professor Rupert Till, Professor of Music and Head of the Department of Media, Humanities and the Arts at the University of Huddersfield.
“Our outstanding reputation in music and music research is backed up by our being ranked 20th in the world for Music in the 2024 QS Subject Rankings, and by our attracting such a renowned scholar as Steve Waksman.
"I have known Steve for 20 years, and his research fits in well with our other music research projects. He is also writing a book with Dr Jan Herbst, our Reader in Music Production, and the professorship is certain to produce some exciting and fascinating work over the coming years.”
Professor Waksman added, “I am elated at having been awarded the Leverhulme, and excited to join the Music faculty at University of Huddersfield.
Professor Steve Waksman
Leverhulme International Professorship
"This is an unparalleled opportunity for me to build a research team and pursue a project that I’ve been hoping to do for years, but that I had been hesitant to start out of concern that it was just too big to do on my own. Amplification technologies have been profoundly transformative and yet they remain little understood. I aim to shed light on how they have affected listening habits, performance practices and the possibilities of forming social bonds through music and sound."
“It is all too rare for those of us doing research on music to receive this kind of support for our scholarship. I am grateful to the Leverhulme Trust for seeing the value in this project and look forward to collaborating with my new colleagues at the University of Huddersfield.”
About the Leverhulme Trust
Since its foundation in 1925, the Leverhulme Trust has provided grants and scholarships for research and education, funding research projects, fellowships, studentships, bursaries and prizes; it operates across all academic disciplines, the intention being to support talented individuals as they realise their personal vision in research and professional training. Today, it is one of the largest all-subject providers of research funding in the UK, distributing approximately £120 million a year. www.leverhulme.ac.uk / @LeverhulmeTrust