Research strands

Our interdisciplinary research investigates the complexity and creative expression of the human mind.

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Sheffield is strongly committed to interdisciplinary work, and the HumLab promotes multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research centred on areas that are core to the Arts and Humanities.

Supporting Arts and Humanities research

The HumLab makes it possible for colleagues from English, Languages & Cultures, Music and Philosophy, who share theoretical and methodological interests and concerns, to join up their research and let their disciplines thrive on cross-fertilisation. We use the laboratory-based methods employed in the study of language and music, and apply them to other disciplines, such as literature, film studies and the visual arts. 

Supporting cognition research

Cognition research helps shape our understanding of music and language and vice versa. By pursuing joint research hypotheses from different angles, it enables us to go beyond incremental progress within a discipline. 

The type of empirical and quantifiable data that the equipment housed in the HumLab makes available facilitates interdisciplinary communication and opens up avenues for collaboration with colleagues from across the university - most notably Cognitive Science, Neuroscience and Computer Science.