BATH SPA UNIVERSITY

Their core work

Bath Spa University is a UK higher education institution with a distinctive specialization in musicology and ethnomusicology research. Their H2020 work focuses on studying music as a cultural and social phenomenon — from transcultural musical practices bridging Eastern and Western traditions, to digital musicology tools for analyzing sound, to the cultural heritage dimensions of slavery through music and dialogue. They bring humanities and arts research methods to EU-funded interdisciplinary projects.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Bath Spa's early H2020 involvement (2015) centred squarely on music performance, theory, and ethnography — studying transcultural opera, timbre, tuning, and interdisciplinary musical modalities. By 2017, their focus broadened to include digital musicology tools (IRiMaS) and a significant move into social justice and heritage themes through the SLAFNET slavery heritage project. This suggests an evolution from purely musicological research toward applying arts and humanities methods to broader societal questions around cultural heritage and inequalities.

Bath Spa appears to be broadening from pure musicology toward interdisciplinary research connecting music, digital tools, and social justice — making them relevant for cultural heritage and digital humanities consortia.

How they like to work

Bath Spa has participated exclusively as a partner, never as coordinator, across all three projects. With 17 unique consortium partners across 11 countries, they engage with diverse international teams rather than returning to the same collaborators. This profile suggests a flexible, internationally minded contributor comfortable joining varied consortia but not seeking to lead them.

Bath Spa has built a notably broad network for a small portfolio — 17 unique partners across 11 countries from just 3 projects. This suggests participation in medium-to-large international consortia with strong geographic diversity, likely spanning both European and non-European partners (given the Africa and Turkey themes).

What sets them apart

Bath Spa occupies an unusual niche at the intersection of musicology, digital humanities, and cultural heritage — a combination few universities bring to EU research. Their strength is connecting artistic and cultural practice with social questions (slavery heritage, transcultural dialogue), making them a distinctive partner for projects that need arts-based research expertise. For consortium builders in cultural heritage or digital humanities, they offer specialist musicological depth that most partners cannot.

Highlights from their portfolio

• Integrating Turkish
  Largest funded project (EUR 159,462) with an unusually long run (2015-2023), bridging Eastern and Western musical traditions through ethnographic and theoretical research.
• IRiMaS
  ERC Advanced Grant contribution exploring how digital tools can transform musicology — positions Bath Spa at the frontier of digital humanities applied to music.
• SLAFNET
  Represents a significant thematic departure into slavery heritage and social justice, funded through MSCA-RISE, indicating international staff exchange and capacity building.