Professor Emeritus, Bob Pritchard taught music technology in acoustic, electroacoustic, and interactive media as well as with film/video, dance, and installation art at UBC. He has received several awards and commissions through the The Canada Council, the BC Cultural Fund, the Ontario Arts Council and the CBC, and his works are performed and recorded internationally by top performers and ensembles. In 2007, his work Strength received a Unique Award of Merit from the Canadian Society of Cinematographers, and his short film Crisis is part of C. Robertson’s cancer documentary 17 Short Films About Breasts, which received five Leo nominations and is in international distribution. His work Synapses for solo oboe, dancer with interactive lightspine, and Max/MSP was the first of the Turning Point Ensemble Covid video commissions for 2020, and his piece Dōshite? recently commissioned by pianist Megumi Masaki for piano and Max/MSP/Jitter makes use of his Sleeve Hand Responsive User Garment (SHRUG) for audio processing and triggering.

His individual and collaborative multiyear SSHRC funded research includes the Tracking and Smart Textiles Environment (TASTE) for use by dancers and musicians in performance; studying Canadian accents in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia; organizing the Western Canada Interactive Art, Science, and Technology group; developing automated score tracking systems; and refactoring and refining gesture-controlled vocal synthesis. He was also a joint-recipient of a three-year New Media Initiatives grant from the Canada Council for the Arts/Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, developing Digital Ventriloquized Actors (DIVAs).

He was a full researcher with the UBC Institute for Computing, Information and Cognitive Systems (ICICS), member of the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies, and former director of the UBC digital performance ensemble Sonic UBC Laptop Sounds and Sensors (SUBCLASS).

Dr. Pritchard completed degrees at the U. of Toronto and UBC. He has taught at Brock University, the UBC Dept. of Physics, Douglas College Dept. of Music, and the UBC School of Music. In 2004 he was awarded a UBC Killam Teaching Prize, and in 2014 the University of Melbourne VCA and MCM designated him a Master Teacher.