Michalis Poupazis

Dr Michalis Poupazis is a Lecturer in Ethnomusicology and Programme Director for the MA in Ethnomusicology at University College Cork. His research sits at the intersection of ethnomusicology, popular music studies, and Mediterranean diaspora cultures. He is particularly interested in how music is experienced, remembered, and mobilised across contexts of sensory and embodied memory, migration, and cultural resilience. His current work engages with two distinct yet connected threads: the cultural afterlives of rock balladry—explored through the lens of male emotional subjectivity in Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb—and the role of traditional music and food practices in rebuilding social bonds in post-conflict Mediterranean settings. His broader interests include theories of narrative, sound and identity, and algorithmic influence on cultural behaviour. Michalis has conducted ethnographic fieldwork in Mediterranean, and has presented his research at leading international conferences in ethnomusicology and musicology. He is currently developing a major research project on cultural resilience in post-conflict societies, exploring the affective and symbolic work of music and food as vehicles of continuity and healing. His scholarly writing is known for blending analytical precision with ethnographic depth, always rooted in real-world musical experience. His recent article on Comfortably Numb makes an original contribution to the study of narrative, trauma, and male listening habits in late adolescence, aligning structural analysis with socio-psychological resonance. Dr Poupazis welcomes supervision in ethnomusicology, popular music studies, music and diaspora, Mediterranean cultural practices, and interdisciplinary music research. He is also interested in mentoring students working at the intersection of music, emotion, memory, and identity.

Teaching MU2017 Music in Culture and Society MU4001 Senior Research Forum MU6004 Performance Practice MU6006 Research Project MU6031 Sound Studies and Musicology MU6034 Multidisciplinary Debates in Musicology and Ethnomusicology MU6043 History and Theory of Ethnomusicology Past & Current MA Students Chara Charalambous Anna-Mieke Bishop Marina Gonzales Vargas Oisin Quigley Current Doctoral Students Wenqiu Chen

• Jiani He

• Dasha Davydova (MPhil)

 

Irish Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship (2018–2020)
Year-long fellowship from October 2018 to support completion of the monograph Extending our Senses: Musics, New Spaces, and the Mediterranean Appeal of Cypriot Diaspora in Birmingham (UK) (€45,926).

 

Society of Musicology Ireland Award (2015)
Travel funding awarded competitively for field research (€400).

 

A.G. Leventis Foundation PhD Award (2014–2017)
Competitive PhD award (€18,400).

 

College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences (CACSSS) Excellence Scholarship (2013–2016)
Competitive PhD scholarship covering fees (€23,000).

 

Celtic Scholar Title (2013–present)
Title bestowed by the Academic Council of University College Cork (CACSSS) in recognition of the high standard of my research proposal following competition.

 

Fotini Papadopoulou Travel Fund (2013–2014)
Travel funding for field research for one academic year (€1,000).

 

Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) MA Award (2012–2013)
Competitive MA award covering fees (£5,100) and maintenance (£9,490), awarded on the basis of the high standard of my research proposal (total: £14,590).

 

Cyprus State Scholarship Foundation MA Award (2012–2013)
Competitive MA award based on academic performance (€1,500).

 

Prize for Best Overall Performance in Music, University of Hull (2012)
Awarded at graduation for achieving the highest overall grade in the Department of Music (£200).

 

Cyprus State Scholarship Foundation BA Award (2010–2012)
Competitive undergraduate award for the final two years of study, based on academic performance (€6,000).