Laura Selby

Overview

Laura Selby is a London-based interdisciplinary artist, sonic experience designer and first-year PhD researcher in Music at City St George’s, University of London. Her work explores listening-led approaches to ecology, multispecies relations and environmental justice, using sound to reveal hidden perspectives and deepen relationships between human and more-than-human worlds.

Her practice brings together sonification, extended field recording, participatory workshops, performance and installation to make ecological processes more perceptible and emotionally resonant. Working at the intersection of sound, science and community, she develops research-led methods that invite people to engage with overlooked ecologies, from mycelium and moss to microbes, concrete and urban environments.

Laura's doctoral research, A listening-led toolkit for mediating multispecies relations and promoting environmental justice, examines how listening-led design and sonic practices can help mediate more-than-human perspectives within environmental decision-making. The project develops a practice-based, adaptable toolkit for use across cultural, community and policy settings, with the aim of supporting more inclusive and accessible approaches to ecological understanding and climate justice.

Alongside her PhD, Laura works as Technical Instructor in Sound and Research Assistant at the Royal College of Art. Her recent projects include Extended Listening workshops developed across sites including Epping Forest and OmVed Gardens, and The Listening Garden, a workshop and installation created for the V&A. Her work has been exhibited and presented across the UK and Europe, including Ars Electronica, Tate Modern, Nieuwe Instituut and IRCAM Forum at Centre Pompidou.

 

Publications

Selby, L. (2025, co-author). Beyond dust: Amplifying microbial temporalities as an archive of spatialized time and temporalized space. In Materia Arquitectura, 28, 140–157.

Selby, L. (2025, co-author). Learning by transforming: Widening access to complex circular economy science using experimental design. PLATE 2025.

Qualifications

• BMus in Music - First Class, City, University of London, United Kingdom, 2015

Postgraduate training

• PGCert in Creative Education, Royal College of Art, United Kingdom, 2024
• MA in Information Experience Design, Royal College of Art, London, United Kingdom, 2021 - 2023

Employment

• Guest Lecturer, University of Reading, Royal College of Art, United Kingdom, 2026 - present
• Research Assistant, Royal College of Art, United Kingdom, 2025 - 2026
• PhD Studentship Researcher in Music, City, University of London, United Kingdom, 2025 - present
• Technical Instructor in Sound, Royal College of Art, United Kingdom, 2023 - present
• Associate Artist, Brain Audio Ltd, United Kingdom, 2021 - present
• Production Manager, Sound and Music Editor, Brain Audio, United Kingdom, 2018 - 2020

Title of thesis: A Listening-led toolkit for mediating multispecies relations between ecosystems and promoting environmental justice.

September 2025

Summary of research

My research explores how listening can operate as a creative, critical and relational method for engaging more-than-human worlds. Situated at the intersection of sonic ecologies, participatory design and climate justice, the project investigates how sound-based practices can make ecological interdependence more perceptible, emotionally resonant and publicly meaningful.

Through a practice-based methodology combining sonification, field recording, participatory workshops and multisensory installation, I am developing a listening-led toolkit for mediating multispecies relations across cultural, community and policy settings. The research asks how listening might support more inclusive forms of environmental understanding and help bring non-human perspectives into environmental decision-making.

Research students

1^stsupervisor

• Dr Joseph Browning, Senior Lecturer