Lois Macdonald

Lois Macdonald is a Lecturer in Music and Sound Design at the School of Digital Arts (SODA), Manchester Metropolitan University. As a multidisciplinary artist and musician with over a decade of music industry experience, she specializes in sound composition, performance, and event management. Her teaching philosophy emphasizes heuristic learning and career-oriented student agency.

• Manchester Metropolitan University, School of Digital Arts
• Lecturer in Music and Sound Design
• Active guitarist/synths in Manchester group PINS and vocalist/guitarist in Grave Goods
• Collaborations with Iggy Pop, Jamie Hince, and prominent studios like Invada Studios

Her research explores AI's impact on music creation, focusing on voice synthesis and the democratization of emerging technologies in creative industries through the Future Spaces project. She co-leads the Speculative Technologies research group and organizes the annual Storytellers + Machines conference, which examines AI's role in artistic practices.

Recent presentations at Ulster University and Modal Gallery SODA Talks highlight her work on transdisciplinary AI education frameworks and student-led collaborations with generative models in digital art/sound contexts.