Lolita Emmanuel wants to escape the “academic bubble.”
The phrase, common inside the halls of higher education, describes researchers and their works swirling in a circle of bloated jargon and niche journals — and failing to reach the outside world.
As a Doctor of Musical Arts candidate at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Emmanuel’s work is unique — blending scholarly study with musical performance. Through practice-based research, she examines how Assyrian musicians preserve cultural heritage despite displacement.
So when she was selected for an exclusive two-week media residency designed to help scholars amplify their work for broader audiences, she jumped at the chance.
“When we’re doing research, what are we doing it for?” she said. “It’s important to have a real world impact. It can’t just stay in the bubble of academia.”
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Emmanuel is one of 15 early-career researchers across Australia — five each in the arts, humanities, and sciences — selected for a residency at one of the country’s leading media outlets, the Australian Broadcasting Company (not to be confused with ABC in the United States).
The cohort includes musicians, filmmakers, photographers, and a creator working alongside people with disabilities.
Dubbed ABC’s TOP 5, the program is run by public broadcaster ABC Radio National. Participants are flown to Melbourne, where they work across departments and collaborate daily with journalists, producers, and creatives to distill their research to its most basic parts.
By the end of the program, each resident produces a piece of media — a podcast, a video or audio program to air nationally, or even an appearance as a guest on a live show.
Emmanuel’s research explores how Assyrian culture is transmitted through music. Her research, “Performing Assyrian-ness,” weaves storytelling, classical music, and academia into the form of a lecture-recital.
She’s also an accomplished pianist. In 2019, she made her U.S. performance debut as an accompanist and soloist with the Assyrian Arts Institute’s Assyrian Women ensemble.
“Storytelling in this way, speaking with people, has always been the thing that energizes me,” she said. “In the typical academic world, it can look very different and I’ve never felt that kind of communication resonated with me.”
Emmanuel hopes to use her scholarly and musical background as a springboard to bring the Assyrian story to global audiences.
“For so long, people have spoken for us, which has led to all sorts of misrepresentation or even underrepresentation,” she said. “It’s very important for our stories to be circulated, not just inside academia.”