KT Sonnen is a PhD researcher from Coventry University with almost two decades of experience within the security sector. KT has embarked on a groundbreaking study that seeks to fill a significant gap in research within security and events with the ultimate aim of making the live music industry a safer environment. A number of independent venues and festivals have already signed up to take part in the research which she hopes will provide actionable insights for the live music industry. 
 

Whilst KT is still operational, in high-profile event control rooms and crowd management teams, as well as Head of Security roles she rekindled an interest in the academic side of things. Having undertaken several courses during the pandemic and really enjoying the behavioural science aspects, KT jumped at the opportunity to do the PhD. KT shares more details about her experience, the research project and what she is hoping to achieve.

“Despite live music contributing millions to the economy, I’ve found that it is a very under-researched area especially within security and terrorism studies. The main focus of my research will be are people as safe as they think they are at large music events and if e concerns consistent across genre, size and type of event. Additional questions look at expectation of security measure deployment and whether security knowledge/experience is a significant factor. 

It's really nice to be able to contribute to the industry that I have worked in since 2007 as it has given me so much. I hope that the results will give an insight into not only how we can enhance safety measures, but how to improve attendee retention and employee satisfaction.

At the minute the data and research just isn’t there. There’s very little scientific evidence behind the work the security and crowd management industry carries out at events. My goal is to change that and hopefully have timestamp of where we are, whilst looking at the future from a practical perspective. If we can create a framework of what different audiences expect when they attend events that could be hugely beneficial for organisers and venues.

This study’s design is unique in a number of ways as it will gather the opinions of workers (both security and non-security roles) as well as attendees, involve contacting attendees well in advance of the event and collecting ground-level data at the time, rather than relying on memory and/or police records. It has been specifically designed to have as little impact on organisers as possible, whilst maintaining anonymity for everyone involved.

The research is exciting for me personally but it's also exciting for the industry to have a crossover between what we're doing operationally and being able to provide the academic back-up as well. 

Hopefully we’ll be able to take some of the lessons learned from the results and translate that into actionable best practice to ensure the attendees and workers are feeling as safe as possible during events. It will also provide a time-stamped benchmark of where the events industry is as a whole right now and will give future research something to build on.”

The year-long study welcomes a diverse range of music events that meet specific criteria, including being located in England, a capacity of 800 or more and a focus on music as the main attraction. Events and venues of all genres, sizes and settings are encouraged to participate to help improve the accuracy and generalisability of the data.

You can find out more about the research here and for more information or to enquire about getting involved please email KT direct E: sonnenk@uni.coventry.ac.uk.