For more than 50 years, Dolby Laboratories has transformed how the world experiences audio and visual content. As Dolby Australia looks ahead to the future of immersive technology, their partnership with APR.Intern has become a key strategy in driving innovation through cutting-edge PhD research.
Since launching their partnership with APR.Intern in 2023, Dolby has hosted 25 PhD interns from universities across Australia. This initiative reflects Dolby’s commitment to investing in the next generation of researchers and engineers who will shape the soundscapes and sensory experiences of tomorrow.
“At Dolby, we are continually pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in audio, visual, and multimodal experiential technologies,” said Ben Southwell, Staff Researcher, Technology Incubation.
“This year’s cohort was especially exciting, as we welcomed PhD students from diverse backgrounds including machine learning, music technologies, human-computer interaction, and even quantum computing. At the start of each internship, we work with students to define a research project that enables us both to explore fresh perspectives and emerging technologies. Empowering students to lead the direction of their research has proven very fruitful for us. The insights gained and technologies developed through their work have fed directly into our internal research threads, advancing our knowledge and capabilities. The students are a source of energy and innovation that we value deeply.”
PhD candidate Santiago Renteria from the University of Western Australia, joined Dolby to work on machine listening systems for sound event detection. His internship focused on designing an interface that uses a head-tracker to select and spatially arrange contrasting sound fragments from audio archives in a 6DOF virtual space.
“This was a rare opportunity to work with one of the leading companies in my field. My project blended sound design, machine learning, and spatial audio rendering using proprietary Dolby tools,” said Santiago.
Santiago’s work explored the potential of distributed listening systems, particularly in non-speech applications including wildlife acoustics, and opened new perspectives on how creative machine listening can support public and ecological benefits. Santiago credits the internship with kickstarting his career, describing it as a valuable opportunity that gave him a competitive edge.
“One must keep an eye (or an ear) on the market. I learned that connecting academic research with industrial values and areas of interest can support innovation.”
Zhanh He, also from the University of Western Australia, completed his PhD in Automatic Music Transcription, focusing on transforming audio into digital scores to support music education, research, and creative industries. At Dolby, he developed a score-conditional music generative system that adjusts loudness to produce more expressive, human-like music, helping to elevate both beginner and professional compositions.
“Dolby is a household name in audio tech. Getting the chance to intern there through APR.Intern gave me invaluable exposure to real-world audio applications and inspired a high-quality paper now under review for a major academic conference,” Zhanh said.
“During my internship, I built a score-conditional music generative system, which aims to enhance the music score made by starter-level music producer. By modifying the loudness attribute of the input music score, our system will make it become more expressive, as if made by the expert. Our system can also reduce the work of professional music producers.”
Zhanh also credits his APR internship for reinvigorating his passion for music.
“Working at Dolby reminded me why I started this journey. The creative environment, the global conversations, and the vibrant Sydney backdrop brought music back to life as both art and science.”
Mark Ovens, APR Intern’s NSW/ACT Business Development Manager, reflected on the success of Dolby’s scaled-up approach.
“The 2025 cohort of interns has been a bold and brilliant expansion of our earlier partnership. Dolby’s trust in these students to explore experimental ideas, combined with collaborative teamwork, has resulted in outcomes that are helping to cultivate Dolby’s global audio innovation pipeline.”
With Dolby Australia continuing to invest in PhD research talent, APR.Intern proves to be a catalyst for innovation, bridging the gap between university research and commercial application, inspiring the next generation of audio-visual pioneers.
