Lenzi, Sara

Sara Lenzi has a master’s degree cum laude in Philosophy of Science from the University of Bologna, Italy (2004) and a Master degree in Electroacoustic Music Composition at the Conservatory of Bologna (2006). With a strong background in classical music, she has been a professional piano and saxophone player and active in the contemporary music and sound art scene in Europe from the early 2000s. She started her professional career as a sound designer and a pioneer of the start-up entrepreneurial movement in Italy, where she founded the first sound branding agency and was awarded Young Entrepreneur of the Year (2008). In 2012 she founded the first sound design studio in Asia, designing sound identities for spaces (Singapore Changi Airport, Giugiaro Architettura Milano), products (FIAMM Electric Vehicles), and brands (Ducati Motors, BMW Asia, Volkswagen Asia). At the same time, she pursued her research and artistic activity through teaching (Lasalle College of the Arts Singapore), conferences (National University of Singapore, Nanyang University of Singapore), artworks (with exhibitions and performances in Australia, Italy, Japan, Germany…). Back in Europe, she obtained a PhD in Design cum laude on the topic of Data Sonification from Politecnico di Milano (2021). Since then, she discovered a real passion for research and remains in academia. She held postdoctoral positions at the Center for Design, Northeastern University, Boston (2021/2022) and Critical Alarms Lab, TU Delft, Netherlands (2022/2023). She co-chaired numerous international conferences (Design Research Society 2022 Bilbao and 2024 Boston, Audiomostly 2021 and 2023, International Conference on Auditory Display 2023) and is a member of the International Advisory Council of the Design Research Society. She is the co-funder of the international magazine sounDesign.info and of the Data Sonification Archive. She considers herself an activist on the importance of sound and listening as means to connect and make sense of the world, and on the ethical responsibility of designers in creating a better world for all. Her research lines explore data sonification for anomaly detection and design processes, tools and methods for the sound-driven design and interactions. Dr. Sara Lenzi joins the Deusto Design Research Group team as a researcher within the Ikerbasque Research Fellow programme. Her objective within Deusto will be to continue advancing in the study and application of sound as a means of interaction and knowledge of the environment and to implement cutting-edge knowledge in design in other research areas of Deustotech.