The project Sounding Conflict: From Resistance to Reconciliation, organised by QUB's Global Research Institute, The Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice, investigates the effects of sound (including sonic arts, participatory music-making and storytelling in theatre) and their distribution through digital media activities.

It analyses how sounds project and ameliorate community experiences, memories and narratives of conflict across cultures and different conflict/post-conflict settings of resistance through to reconciliation. Comparative case studies with projects in the Middle East, Brazil and Northern Ireland serve as a basis for evaluating how sound is used to articulate experiences of violence, support narratives of resistance and promote peace building.

Led by Professor Fiona Magowan, alongside Dr Olivier Urbain, International Advisor on the Project from The Min-on Music Research Institute in Tokyo, Dr Julie Norman, Dr Stefanie Lehner, Dr Jim Donaghey, and Professor Pedro Rebelo, this interdisciplinary team has collaborated with 15 community partners across 9 countries. Together, they have fostered sonic, performative, and theatre collaborations that span the globe.

Building on these collective efforts, the team has also contributed to the 2023 publication Sounding Conflict: From Resistance to Reconciliation.