Take a break with Nick Rothwell

Hi there! What is your name and role at Ravensbourne?

“My name is Nick Rothwell, and my role is rather fluid: I have had teaching, tutoring, mentoring, and sporadic course leader duties across UX/UI Design, Creative Computing, Games Programming, Music and Sound, Postgraduate, and the PGCert.”

It’s time for a coffee break! What’s your go-to drink or snack?

“Not exactly a snack, but there are a few venues around Rave that do a decent vegetarian fried breakfast.”

How did you get to where you are now?

“PhD in Computer Science, Research Fellow at Edinburgh University, software gigs at The Guardian and RBS, but more recently a freelance career as composer, media artist and creative coder for performances and installations in the UK, Europe, and beyond.”

Any exciting projects on the horizon?

“Very tentative at this stage, but the band Snow Patrol have asked me to help redesign all the control software they use for their live gigs.”

What is your proudest accomplishment?

“Having a performance project on at Ballett Frankfurt was pretty cool, as was a choreographic AI designed for Wayne McGregor at the Wellcome Collection, and a soundtrack commission for Shobana Jeyasingh Dance at Venice Biennale.

What is something that people may not know about you?

“I once got chased off a UNESCO world heritage site in Kathmandu by armed guards.”

I can’t stop listening to… Tangerine Dream’s back catalogue on Bandcamp. The West Berlin music scene of the 70s and 80s changed everything.

A book I recently loved is… six books: the 'Dublin Murder Squad' series by Tana French. A background character from each book becomes the protagonist in the next.

People should watch… Apple TV+’s adaptation of Asimov’s Foundation, which has been updated for the 80 years since the original was written, and has two black women as lead characters.

My current favourite piece of clothing/accessory is… if it counts as an accessory, my Brompton P-Line folding bike.