academy are the university's all-male identifying a cappella group formed in 2015 by nick jones. the group is known for their fun, crowd-pleasing stage presence and creative arrangements. in the summer of 2017, academy appeared on sky one's "", opening the first episode. in 2018, their first year of competing and jones' first year as music director, academy placed third in the icca exeter quarterfinal and progressed to the icca uk final in london's new wimbledon theatre. later in the same year, academy reached the semifinals of the voice festival uk. in august 2018, academy made their edinburgh fringe debut performing the joint show "academy and pitch fight present: buy one, get one free" alongside their sister group pitch fight. in december 2018, academy released their first single and music videos, jones' arrangement of lunchmoney lewis' "bills", which featured in their 2018 icca set. the group reached the icca uk final again in 2019, their second year entering the competition, with beatboxer cem rifat winning outstanding vocal percussion at the quarterfinal stage.