Following our open call for Watershed's Pervasive Media Studio New and Emerging Talent Residencies programme we are delighted to announce that robotics startup co-founder Samantha Payne, game designer and producer Roz Dean and composer and designer Thomas Williams will be joining us for three months from July to explore ideas related to creative technology.

The programme gives practitioners at an early stage in their professional development the time and space to think, share and explore ideas, with structured supoort, a £2000 bursary and a dedicated mentor.

So who will be joining the open environment of the Pervasive Media Studio from July? Say hello to:

Samantha Payne
As co-founder of a small robotics starup called Open Bionics, Sammy is interested in social technologies (tech for good). Open Bionics are developing low-cost bionic hands for amputees using affordable 3D technologies like 3D scanning, modelling, and printing. They want to offer bionic hands that make amputees feel good about their limb differences, 3D printing bionic hands that aren't made to blend in like NHS cosmetic prosthetics. For Samantha, the most interesting aspect of the bionic hand project is the emotional and psychological attachment and attitude amputees have about their prosthetic hands.

During her time in residence Samantha would like to explore alternative looks and functions of low-cost bionic hands, working in collaboration with Studio residents to explore new materials, different styles, colours, and even optional functions opening up the possibility of giving the wearer superhuman capabilities. Can we make colourful super-hero hands for children and fashionable/hi-tech hands for adults?

Roz Dean
Roz is passionate about creating interaction, giving permission to be playful and merging reality and fantasy through events and happenings that often co-exist in numerous digital and physical spaces. In the past she has worked with former Studio residents Slingshot on their world-renowned zombie chase game 2.8 Hours Later, and recently took part in Watershed's Future Producers scheme.

Whilst in residence, Roz will be developing and testing ideas for workshops, playful events and street games, as well as exploring research questions around engaging adults with play, and whom the city belongs to.

Thomas Williams
Thomas is interested in creating new ways for audiences to experience and interact with sound and music in physical spaces. Through interactive installations he combines music composition and interactive tehnology to invite people to step out of their daily routine and interact with something that might spark joy, curiosity or a childhood sense of wonderment.

In this residency Thomas will be developing Beacon Choir, an interactive sound and light installation that invites audiences to become conductors of a sleeping choir and awaken the music and sounds of space. He is particularly interested in exploring the form and behaviours of his beacons to create music intelligently, music that has a life of its own, and something that is visually and audibly beautiful.

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