I am known as 'Henry', and publish under my preferred name 'Henry McPherson'. I have also published under my full name 'Dougal H J McPherson'. My pronouns are he/him.

• Improvisation in and as performance (music, dance, theatre)
• Free improvisation and experimental music 
• Postmodern theatre-dance 
• Environmental arts and ecopedagogies
• Plant-human relations
• Ecomusicology
• Applied performance, arts and health
• Gender, body, and queer identity in performance
• Expanded notations (graphic, text, video)

• Artistic practice research (music, dance)
• Arts-based participatory research
• Reflexive Thematic Analysis (RTA)
• Narrative Enquiry
• Qualitative research
• Video essay and videographic methods 

I am an artist-researcher, composer and improviser, originally from Herefordshire, but living and working since 2013 between Scotland and the North of England. I am currently a postdoctoral Research Associate with the Creative Manchester research platform, and have worked at the University of Manchester since 2023. I was previously lead postdoctoral researcher on a NIHR SSCR funded project evaluating the implementation of an improvisation-based music-making training programme for care-home staff working in dementia care (2023-24), and a UoM UKRI Research-England Participatory Research Fund funded project exploring arts-based participatory research approaches in cultural partnerships with Creative Manchester (2023-24). I was also a co-investigator on the UMRI funded Moss Worlds project (2024-25), bringing together an interdisciplinary team from literature studies, urban planning, history, biology, sound art, geography, and community arts practice to explore the botanical, political, and aesthetic properties of urban mosses and other bryophytes.

My research focuses on improvisation in performance practices, particularly how, where, and why improvisatory modalities are engaged for community, health and wellbeing, or environmental benefit. My recent postdoctoral work has focused on artists’ experiences of using improvisation within in arts and health contexts, improvised music and dementia, participatory arts, and improvisation pedagogy in higher education.  My wider work has focused on sound within ecopedagogy and ecomusicology, particularly around plant-human relationships, and performance strategies oriented towards issues of climate and ecology. I lead regular participatory workshops on environmental listening and ecological improvisation, with a focus on how kinesonic (sound and movement) performance can foster connection with the more-than-human world.

My PhD (2019-23) was a practice-led investigation into transdisciplinary improvising practices in music and dance, with a substantial component addressing intersections of embodiment, gender, racialisation, and identity in music and dance improvisation in America and Europe from 1950 to the present. My MA research project (2017-18) focused on expanded and experimental notations in contemporary western art music and interdisciplinary practice, particuarly text scores, graphic and illustrated notation. Outside academia, I have an international portfolio as a composer and performer, writing music for concert and stage, and working interdisciplinarily in gallery and installation practice.