International Health Humanities Network Membership

Dr Rutherford trained as an architect, specialising in architectural and psychoacoustics for his Masters and PhD at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. Upon graduation, he worked as an applications engineer for Sound Alert (Leeds) where he was part of a team that developed localizable auditory warning devices for the emergency services as well as navigation (emergency egress) beacons to help guide people out of burning buildings. He subsequently spent a further 3 years at the University of Leeds as an EPSRC funded postdoctoral research fellow, continuing the development of the emergency egress beacons.

In 2002 he joined the Department of Architecture and Built Environment at the University of Nottingham as lecturer, delivering modules in architectural design studio, environmental (building) science and environmental / behavioural psychology as it applies to the built environment. Since then he has undertaken several roles within the Department and is primarily responsible for the Department's Accreditation Processes. In 2007 he was promoted to Associate Professor.

Dr Rutherford's primary research interests lie with the acoustic environment - how sound is generated, how it propagates through the environment and how it is perceived / received by those exposed to it. This covers a wide range of research subjects including performance space acoustics, lecture theatre acoustics and acoustics within healthcare facilities. Ultimately his research tries to understand the impact that soundscapes have on those listening or exposed to them. His secondary research interests lie with environmental sustainability and how this shapes the built environment (and once again the occupants of the built environment). He has supervised several successful PhD students in this area.