معرفی
Josephine Machon is Associate Professor in Contemporary Performance at Middlesex University's Department of Theatre within the Faculty of Arts and Creative Industries. She is a practitioner-researcher working at the forefront of immersive performance studies, currently accepting PhD students and actively collaborating on the UKRI-funded Future Leaders Fellowship project 'Immersive Opera' (2024-2028) with Toby Young. Her academic profile demonstrates sustained research activity from 2006 through 2025, with significant output in recent years.
Machon's research focuses on experiential performance and immersive practice, particularly examining inclusive access in sensory theatres and the application of XR technologies and binaural sound. She investigates the role of audience-participants in interactive experiences through partnerships with ZU-UK and environmental charity Global Action Plan. Her work bridges academic research with practical applications, as evidenced by the 'Luxury For All' campaign launched at Waterloo Vaults in 2023.
Her publications reveal consistent scholarly output with particular emphasis on immersive theatre documentation and theory. The 2019 publication of 'The Punchdrunk Encyclopaedia' achieved notable commercial success as Amazon's #1 bestseller in Theatre & Performance charts, while her monograph 'Immersive Theatres: Intimacy and Immediacy in Contemporary Performance' (2013) received the CHOICE 'Outstanding Academic Title' award. Current scholarly activity shows strong momentum with multiple 2024-2025 publications including revised editions of her influential works and new research on synaesthetics.
- Outstanding Academic Title (CHOICE Awards, 2014)
- Shortlisted for The David Bradby TaPRA Award (2015)
- Longlisted for The Society for Theatre Research Theatre Book Prize (2014, 2020)
- Amazon's #1 'Bestseller,' 'Most Wanted,' and 'Most Gifted' in Theatre & Performance charts (2019)
Machon serves as Joint Editor of the Palgrave Macmillan Series 'Palgrave Studies in Performance and Technology' and sits on editorial boards for 'The International Journal of Performance Arts & Digital Media' and 'Body, Space & Technology.' Her current research collaborations include partnerships with ZU-UK on audience-participant dynamics and with Global Action Plan on socially engaged performance addressing climate and social inequalities. The 'Immersive Opera' project represents a significant current research endeavor that combines her expertise in immersive practice with technological innovation through 2028.
