Rebecca Collins is Awarded a Royal Society Saltire Early Career Fellowship

Rebecca Collins is awarded a Royal Society of Edinburgh Early Career Saltire Fellowship

I have been awarded a prestigious Royal Society of Edinburgh Early Career Saltire Fellowship for my artistic research project ‘Parametres for Understanding Uncertainty: Creative Practice and Sonic Detection as Strategies for Scientific Outreach’ (P4UU). I am the principal researcher of the project and the research will be carried out in collaboration with the Institute for Theoretical Physics at the Autonomous University of Madrid (IFT UAM-CSIC).

I will be joining the Institute for Theoretical Physics (IFT) for 12 months from January 2022, and will be investigating how methodologies used in creative practice meet those in the physical sciences. Working alongside Dr Cerdeño, my scientific host and his dark matter research group at the IFT, a central aim of the project is to find innovative approaches to better communicate research processes involving invisible matter.

Throughout the duration of the fellowship I will combine research into existing art/science collaborations with a sonic inflection (e.g., Ars Electronica residencies at CERN, Geneva) with field research at laboratories where physical science experiments use sound technology for dark matter detection (e.g., the Canfranc Underground Laboratory and the Laboratory of Acoustics for the Detection of Astroparticles), to find unconventional research engagement strategies.

The central thesis of the research is that situated accounts of the aforementioned laboratories, a disused underground railway tunnel or below sea level, can provide new angles on often impenetrable methods of particle physicists. My research will involve field work in the form of site visits, interviews, autoethnographic writing and workshops. Outputs will take the form of podcasts, new sound work, and a series of published materials putting the research into contact with a wider public.

In response to receiving the award, I was interviewed by a media and communications specialist and said:

“I’m excited to work with the IFT on this interdisciplinary project to explore connections between creative practice and dark matter detection. As an early career researcher, this is a unique opportunity to build international research partnerships with innovative methods to question what we know about the universe.”

The Royal Society of Edinburgh Saltire Early Career Fellowships, funded by the Scottish Government, focus on the next generation of researchers to support Scotland-Europe research collaboration.