Soumya Sai Vanka

I am a doctoral researcher at the Centre for Digital Music, Queen Mary University of London, under the AI and Music Centre for Doctoral Training Program.

My research focuses on the design of user-centric, context-aware AI-based tools for music production. As a hobbyist musician and producer myself, I am interested in developing tools that can support creativity and collaboration, resulting in emergence and novelty. I am also interested in the broader implications of AI in music and the arts, and how it can be used to democratize music production and consumption.

My research is supported by the UKRI and Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH. My research approach is user-centric, incorporating expert knowledge and involving prototyping and extensive user evaluations.

I am also a student member of the Audio Engineering Society, SIGCHI, and ISMIR. I have interned at Yamaha, Sony AI, Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH, and IIT Kharagpur, and served on the organising committee of the AES AI and ML for Audio Conference 2025 as Special Sessions Chair. See my CV for more details.

Explore my research projects, publications, or full CV.