Speak Out! The 5th Annual F-List Research Conference (20-21 May '26, Leeds)

5th Annual F-List Research Hub Conference

“SPEAK OUT! WOMEN’S VOICES IN MUSIC”

Wednesday, 20 May 2026 – Thursday, 21 May 2026

Hosted by Leeds Conservatoire, at the Leeds City Museum (hybrid).

TC // sexual violence, rape, gender discrimination, sexism.

This schedule contains references to themes of sexual violence, rape, gender discrimination, and sexism which some individuals may find distressing.

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This is a hybrid event - please do book the tickets, as you are planning to attend. If you are attending in person, you will need to book a ticket for both Wednesday and Thursday. If you are attending online, you will only need to book one ticket (for online attendance).

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Please note that the below schedule is still under construction, and changes are still possible.

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SCHEDULE for Wednesday, 20 May 2025

- DAY 1 -

08:15-09:00 Registration and welcome (with Coffee)

09:00-09:15 Welcome Address: tbc (Leeds Conservatoire and The F-List)

09:15-10:15 KEYNOTE (60 minutes)

TBC.

10:15-10:30 Comfort Break

10:30-12:00 Practice Research I (90 minutes) Our Humanity, for Better or Worse.

Led by Sophie Daniels.

Patricia Duffy: Being Serafina: How dramaturgy can amplify human perspectives in songwriting.

Stephanie Pearl: Kate Bush and the Washing Machine: Beats Around the Bush DJ Set By Pearlie PhDJ.

Sharon Martin: What insight can collaborative songwriting bring into women’s lived experience of gambling?

12:00-12:15 Comfort Break

12:15-13:15 Workshop I (60 minutes):

WIRED Research and Toolkit: with Dr Eddie Dobson

With Eddie Dobson (Yorkshire Sound Women Network)

13:15-14:15 Lunch (F-List Networking Event)

14:15-15:45 Roundtable I (90 minutes)

“In Conversation with Neighbourhood Voices - Building Community and Taking Up Space”

Moderated by Gina Walters and Liv Muir.

15:45-16:00 Comfort Break

16:00-17:00 Roundtable II (60 minutes)

“TBC: Health & Wellbeing team at Leeds Conservatoire”

Bethany Milner (Student Wellbeing Adviser, Access and Participation); Daniela Bonitz (Group HE Student Health and Wellbeing Manager); Erin McCafferty (Students’ Union President); and Mya Mistry (Third-year Pop student). The panel will be chaired by Mariam Kauser.

17:00-17:15 Comfort Break

17:15-18:45 Research Papers I (90 minutes):

Moderated by: tbc.

Jess Blaise Ward: Yorkshire Sound Women(+) Network Using Gear and Building Communities: Addressing Gender Inequalities in Yorkshire and Beyond

Marjan Wynia: Game Changers: Exploring the Gendered Working Experiences of Women Stage Managers in the Dutch Music Industry.

Cande Sánchez Olmos: Voicing Sisterhood: Exploring Discourses of Solidarity in the Music Industry.

Ruth Clark, Elysha Clay and Laura Johnson: Where are the women? 60 years of Leeds Conservatoire.

18:45-20:15 Evening Documentary Screening

Since Yesterday: The Untold Story of Scotland’s Girl Bands (2024)

Directors: Carla J Easton and Blair Young.

18:00-21:00 Evening Networking at the Leeds Rooftop Bar

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SCHEDULE for Thursday, 21 May 2026

- DAY 2 -

08:00-09:00 Sunrise Audio Walk (60 minutes)

Wellbeing Workshop: tbc.

With Laura Reid.

08:45-09:15 Registration (with Coffee)

09:15-10:45 Research Papers II (75 minutes) Title TBC.

Moderated by tbc (affiliation)

Vick Bain: "Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves" Sister Organizations: Feminist Grassroots Initiatives in a Misogynistic Music Economy.

Grace Goodwin: GENIE: Spreadsheets as activism.

Lucy Rycroft-Smith (online): Transforming Educational Research into Musical Voice.

Metka Potočnik: Authorship and Authority in Music Copyright: the Girlfriend Problem.

10:45-11:00 Comfort Break

11:00-12:00 Roundtable III (45 minutes):

“Challenging Male Supremacy in Songwriting Creative Process”

Led by Sophie Daniels.

12:00-12:15 Comfort Break

12:15-13:15 Workshop II (60 minutes)

Doing it Together- How women in music apply radical empathy as an anchor for safer and more connected creative spaces.

With Rebecca (Becci) Wallace, Carla J Easton, Lauren Gilmour, and Josephine Sillars.

13:15-14:15 Lunch (F-List Networking Event)

14:15-15:45 Research Papers III (90 minutes): Title TBC.

Shelina Brown: Scream Against the Sky: Yoko Ono’s Voice at the 1969 Toronto Rock n Roll Revival.

Julia Lurfova: Queering the “universal” capacity to improvise.

Maren Hancock: From Régine to Joanie Labine: Voice, Absence, and the Gendering of DJ History.

Katie Shepherd: What Happened to the Heart?: Envoicing Ecofeminist Protest.

15:45-16:00 Comfort Break

16:00-16:30 Workshop III (30 minutes):

Non-Disclosure Agreements: What Should we Know?

Led by Independent Society of Musicians and The F-List for Music.

16:30-16:45 Comfort Break

16:45-18:15 Research Papers IV (90 minutes): Title TBC.

Sam Lou Talbot: She Grows Louder - 'Content control and commercial imperatives'.

Katherine Williams: Invisible infrastructures and spatial power play in co-writing spaces. (might be online – subject to funding)

Eva Navarro Lopez and Thais Ruiz de Alda: Gender Music Metadata: A new community-based framework for music AI systems. (might be online)

Rebecca (Becci) Wallace and Lauren Gilmour: Becoming the Surface Others Orient To: Care and Gendered Labour in Music Practice and Education.

18:15-19:00 Closing, F-List Networking, with Music

Event Venue

Leeds City Museum, Millennium Square, Leeds, United Kingdom

Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.

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