Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
Julian Knowles is an academic specialising in the creative applications of new and emerging technologies and an expert in practice-led research. His research spans the fields of media arts, music, sound design and experimental media.
He holds degrees in Music (Hons Class 1) from the University of Sydney, where his teachers included Peter Sculthorpe, Peter Platt, and Winsome Evans, and a doctorate in media art from UTS. His academic career began in 1994 when was appointed on the foundation staff to establish a new music degree at the University of Western Sydney. In this role Julian established a highly successful major in music technology and a new cross disciplinary Bachelor of Electronic Arts program, both of which produced many leading Australian practitioners. Within a period of 8 years he was appointed to the position of Head of the School of Contemporary Arts, leading a cluster of Music, Theatre, Dance and Visual Arts. This began a period of service in senior academic leadership positions that has spanned 16 years.
In 2005 he was appointed to the position of Professor of Music and Head, School of Music and Drama at the University of Wollongong where he was chair of the Faculty Academic Board and a founding member of the Sonic Arts Research Network. In 2007 he took up his position of Professor and Portfolio Director - Art and Design, Music, Dance (Head of School) in the Creative Industries Faculty at Queensland University of Technology where he was responsible for the strategic leadership of a school with 40 FTE staff. As a member of the Creative Industries Faculty Executive, he was also a member of the Strategic Research Leadership Group that included representation from the ARC Centre for Excellence in Creative Industries.
Alongside this role, he became an integral member of the leadership team for the 2010 Co-Operative Research Centre (CRC) in Arts and Entertainment Futures bid. This $40m bid, led by QUT and chaired by Michael Lynch CBE AM, brought together more than 30 industry partners (including the ABC, Sydney Opera House, the Australia Council for the Arts, Brisbane Festival, Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Circa) reached formal interview stage and remains the only arts based bid to progress to the final stages of selection of a CRC round. Julian was named as the research leader for the ‘Form and Content Innovation’ program and also as Interim Chief Executive Officer. He played a key role in securing partner contributions and in conceptualising the research programs.
In 2011, he took up a strategic research development role as Research Leader: Creative Arts and Writing in the Creative Industries Faculty at QUT. In this role he steered the faculty’s ERA submission in the 19 Codes and established a new 18 member research cluster- the Creative Practices Research Group across Visual Arts, Media Arts, Design, Music and Theatre.
In 2013, he was appointed to the position of Professor of Music and Media in the Faculty of Arts at Macquarie University, where he co-established the Creative Ecologies Lab Research Group and took up the role as leader for FOR Code 19. In 2015 he was appointed to the role of Associate Dean (International) in the Faculty of Arts.
Julian’s sustained program of practice-based research demonstrates a long-standing, high-level engagement with technologically-mediated sound practices and the relationships between audio-visual media. This has resulted in the creation of more than 50 innovative works that have been disseminated by high profile record labels, broadcasters and art institutions internationally. In the course of his career Julian has worked with many of Australia’s best-known sound artists and has been a member of the Australian electro-environmental audio group Social Interiors since the mid 1990s. As a solo artist, Julian’s music and audio/visual works have been presented at events and venues such as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Experimental Intermedia in New York City, What is Music?, Australian Perspecta, Liquid Architecture, the Melbourne International Film Festival and the Sydney Opera House.
His creative research outputs have international reach and are published via a number of record labels. His work receives frequent broadcasts internationally and he has been invited to perform live to air for ABC Radio, BBC Radio and many other specialist radio programs. He has been a frequent recipient of competitive grants from the Australia Council for the Arts, the Arts NSW/Create NSW and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, including composer commissions, residencies, development, performance, international touring, and innovative projects grants.
From 2007-2013, Julian was Chair of Q Music, the peak body for the music industry in Queensland. As part of that role, he provided expert advice to, and participated in, a range of music export initiatives for the Queensland Government. Under his tenure, he led the organisation through a tripling of its turnover and its emergence as a flagship organisation for the Queensland Government. From 2003-2007, Julian was appointed by the Minister for the Arts to the Music Board of the Australia Council for the Arts. Significant past directorships include the Sydney Olympic Park Arts Development Advisory Panel and the Australian Network for Art and Technology. Since 2013, Julian has been Chair of MusicNSW, the peak body for the music industry in NSW, where he has worked to grow organisational capacity and reach. In this role he has provided expert commentary for NSW government inquiries in the arts and music sector.
Julian is a frequent keynote speaker and panel chair on issues relating to innovation in sound and music. In recent years, Julian has delivered the following keynote addresses at significant festivals, conferences and public lecture series ‘Circa 1979/Signal to Noise’, Sydney Festival 2010; ‘Sustainability in the Sound Arts in Australia’, Liquid Architecture 10, Sydney, 2009; ‘Music in Universities in the 21st Century: A Manifesto’, Music. Sound. Design Symposium, University of Technology Sydney 2008; ‘On-Air’, Vital Signs: Creative Practice and New Media Now Conference, RMIT, Australian Centre for Moving Image, Melbourne 2005; and ‘Aural Cinema and Laptop Pop: New Compositional Intentions’, ANU Centre for New Media Arts Public Lecture Series, National Museum of Australia, Canberra 2005. In 2020, Julian's work 'The Billion' was presented as part of the major international retrospective "Audiosphere: sound experimentation 1980-2020" at the Museo Nacional de Arte Reina Sofia in Spain.
Education/Academic qualification
Music, Doctor of Creative Arts, Metamusics: an exploration of hybridity and post-genre in experimental music, University of Technology Sydney
Award Date: 1 May 2008
Music, Bachelor of Arts (Hons Class 1), University of Sydney
Award Date: 1 Feb 1989
External positions
Peer Assessor, APRA/AMCOS Digital Futures Fund, Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA)
2022 → …
Peer Assessor, Experimental and Emerging Arts Fellowship, Australia Council
2014 → …
Chair, Music NSW, Music NSW
1 Mar 2013 → …
Peer Assessor, National Broadband Network Initiative, Australia Council
2012 → …
Chair, Q Music
10 Mar 2007 → 15 Jan 2013
Professor, Portfolio Director, Queensland University of Technology
20 Jan 2007 → 20 Jan 2013
Peer Assessor, Arts Queensland/Trade Queensland Music Export initiative, Arts Queensland
2007 → 2011
Peer/Grant Assessor - Music, Emerging and Experimental Arts, Australia Council
2007 → …
New Media Arts Scoping Study Steering Committee, Australia Council
2005
Professor and Head, School of Music and Drama, University of Wollongong
1 Dec 2004 → 19 Jan 2007
Music Board, Australia Council
2004 → 2007
Board Director, Australian Network for Art and Technology (ANAT)
2004 → 2008
Arts Advisory Panel, Sydney Olympic Park Authority
2004 → 2008
Associate Professor and Head, School of Contemporary Arts, Western Sydney University
24 Jan 1994 → 30 Nov 2004
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MQRIS: Virtual Reality (VR) fieldwork research system
Murray, T., Pearlman, K., Barkat, I., Lloyd, K., Suchet-Pearson, S., Evans, T., Power, R., Sone, Y. & Knowles, J.
11/04/21 → …
Project: Other
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MQRIS: Field and Studio Sound Equipment Systems
Ellis, G., Millard, K., Knowles, J., Murray, T., Marynowsky, W., Pearlman, K., Barkat, I., Morgan, A., Ogilvie, J., Phelps, B., Bidault, M., Moore, D. R., Cooper, C., Burgess, N., Furduj, B., Mees, C. & O'Grady, P.
1/01/15 → 31/12/15
Project: Other
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MQRIS: Screen Production Field System
Ellis, G., Millard, K., Delofski, M., Murray, T., Barkat, I., Knowles, J. & Long, J.
1/01/14 → 31/12/14
Project: Other
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Recognising and understanding creative practice research in the modern university
Knowles, J., Apr 2023, NiTRO: Non Traditional Research Outcomes, 47.Research output: Contribution to Newspaper/Magazine/Website › Article
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Sonic robotics: musical genres as platforms for understanding robotic performance as cultural events
Marynowsky, W., Knowles, J., Bown, O. & Ferguson, S., 2023, Cultural robotics: social robots and their emergent cultural ecologies. Dunstan, B. J., Koh, J. T. K. V., Tillman, D. T. & Brown, S. A. (eds.). Cham, Switzerland: Springer, Springer Nature, p. 219-235 17 p. (Springer Series on Cultural Computing).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
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The futures of democracy: series 1, episode 1: Democracy and education
Anderson, N. & Knowles, J., 2022Research output: Non-traditional research output › Digital or Visual products
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The futures of democracy: series 1, episode 2: Artificial intelligence and automated decision making
Knowles, J. & Anderson, N., 2022Research output: Non-traditional research output › Digital or Visual products
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The futures of democracy: series 1, episode 3: Artificial intelligence, transparency and accountability
Knowles, J. & Anderson, N., 2022Research output: Non-traditional research output › Digital or Visual products
Prizes
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Honorary Mention, Digital Musics category. Surround mixes. Phill Niblock 'The Movement of People Working'. Extreme Records
Knowles, Julian (Recipient) & Niblock, Phill (Team leader), 2003
Prize
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Vice-Chancellor's Award for Excellence - Research and Industry Partnerships
Knowles, Julian (Recipient), 2012
Prize
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Expert Industry Advisor. Australia Council / APRA AMCOS Digital Futures Initiative
Julian Knowles (Advisor)
2023Activity: End user engagement and expertise › Advisory position
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'Sounding Transformation in Three Cities: Articulating encounters of sonic shifts in Kaifeng, Melbourne and Suzhou through field recording practice and sound composition'. PhD Examination. Byron Dean
Julian Knowles (Examiner)
2023Activity: Higher degree research activities › Examination
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External Advisor. Non-Traditional Research Outputs and other works of Creative Practice. FASS, University of Technology Sydney
Julian Knowles (Advisor)
2023 → …Activity: End user engagement and expertise › Advisory position
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'Lobster Songs'. Feature Documentary. Audio post-production and 5.1 surround sound mixing
Julian Knowles (Other)
Jan 2023 → …Activity: Other
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'Sound of Spaces: Spaces from Sound' PhD Examination. Eamon Sprod
Julian Knowles (Examiner)
2023Activity: Higher degree research activities › Examination
Press/Media
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Pitchfork Media: The 25 Best Indie Pop Albums of the 90s
27/10/22
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Public Engagement Activities
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Record Collector Magazine. 'Sometime in the Morning' single review
1/10/21
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Research
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Sun Burns Out album review. Even As We Speak 'Adelphi' 8.9/10
28/07/20
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research
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All Music album review. Editor's Choice 4/5 stars. Even As We Speak 'Adelphi'
27/07/20
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Research
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Backseat Mafia album review. Even As We Speak 'Adelphi'
25/07/20
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Research