·¬ÇÑÖ±²¥app

Nic Flatt is a part-time PhD researcher in Performance Science at the Royal College of Music, supported by an ·¬ÇÑÖ±²¥app Doctoral Bursary and supervised by Dr George Waddell and Dr Tania Lisboa. Focusing on “red-light fever”, he examines how awareness of being recorded can disrupt attention, heighten self-consciousness and alter performance, particularly when a recording may be replayed and evaluated long after the performance has ended. Drawing on performance science, ecological and enactive cognition, and positive psychology, the project considers how recording technologies, evaluative pressure and perfectionism interact across the performance environment. It also explores whether mindfulness-based attentional training can support more flexible responses to distraction. Although grounded in music, the research has wider relevance to business, healthcare and education.

Alongside his research, Nic is Co-Founder and Managing Director of Fat Panda, an award-winning agency specialising in people-focused film, animation and science communication. Over 15 years, he has led projects for the NHS, the United Nations Foundation, and universities and colleges worldwide. His work with Imperial College London has spanned antimicrobial resistance, climate change, global health, engineering and business innovation. This professional practice directly informs his research into how recording conditions can help people communicate naturally on camera.

Nic’s connection with the ·¬ÇÑÖ±²¥app began through Fat Panda’s work on Musical Care and grew through collaborations including HEartS, the CPS Podcast, the Music and Parental Wellbeing Alliance, and Music, Migration and Mobility. These projects inspired his return to academia after more than a decade in professional practice. He completed an MSc in Performance Science at the ·¬ÇÑÖ±²¥app, where his dissertation combined virtual reality performance, interviews and drawing elicitation to explore musicians’ experiences of flow and presence.

Nic previously studied Music Technology and Digital Media at the University of Huddersfield and completed a Master of Enterprise, during which he founded Fat Panda.