people...
The International Music Education Research Centre (iMerc) brings together a team of nationally and internationally recognised scholars with a wide range of specialist expertise.
The Centre has a strong commitment to lifelong musical development and to teacher and professional education in these areas, interfaced with innovative research, in order to develop and support the future and current leaders in education, humanities and the arts both within the UK and internationally.
Professor Graham F Welch
Chair of Music Education, Chair of iMerc, Head of the Department of Arts and Humanities
Professor Graham Welch holds the Institute of Education, University of London Established Chair of Music Education and is Head of the Institute's Department of Arts and Humanities. He is elected Chair of the international Society for Education, Music and Psychology Research (SEMPRE) and a recent past Co-Chair of the Research Commission of the International Society for Music Education (ISME). He also holds Visiting Professorships at the Universities of Sydney (Australia), Limerick (Eire), Helsinki (Finland) and Roehampton (UK). He has acted as a special consultant: (i) on aspects of children's singing and vocal development to the USA National Center for Voice and Speech (NCVS) in Denver and the Swedish Voice Research Centre in Stockholm and (ii) on aspects of educational and research development in the areas of arts and music education, curriculum and teacher development to the British Council in the Ukraine and Argentina, the Ministry for Education and Youth in the United Arab Emirates and the National Research Foundation of South Africa. Publications number over two hundred and embrace musical development and music education, teacher education, the psychology of music, singing and voice science and music in special education and disability. Publications are primarily in English, but also in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Swedish and Chinese. Graham Welch is member of the editorial boards of the: Journal of Research in Music Education (JRME), Music Education Research (MER), International Journal of Music Education (IJME), Research Studies in Music Education (RSME), International Journal of Research in Choral Singing (IJRCS) and Psychology of Music (PsyMus).
special interests...
Musical Development Across the Lifespan, Early Childhood Education, Singing and Vocal Development, Special Needs Education, Psychology of Music, Learning and Teaching in Music, Teacher Education.
contact details...
email: g.welch@ioe.ac.uk, telephone: +44(0)20 76126503, fax:+44(0)20 76126741
Evangelos Himonides
Lecturer in I.T. and Music Technology education, iMerc coordinator
Evangelos Himonides holds the University of London's first ever 'lecturer in music technology education' position. He teaches Music Education, Music
Technology and Information Technology, at a post-graduate level, at the
Institute of Education, University of London and also leads the
post-graduate course "Music Technology in Education". He holds a Music
Diploma from the Macedonian Conservatoire of Thessaloniki, Greece, a
Bachelors of Science in Information Technology with Multimedia with
Star First Class Honours from Middlesex University, UK, a Masters in
Education with distinction from the University of Surrey, UK and a PhD in Psychoacoustics and Information Technology from the University of London. He is a Chartered I.T. professional with the British Computer Society. As a musician, technologist and educator, Evangelos has an ongoing career in experimental research in the fields of psychoacoustics, Music Perception, Music Cognition, Information
Technology, Human-Computer Interaction, Special Needs, the Singing
Voice and Singing Development. Publications currently number over
thirty-five, in high-profile international journals, such as Psychology
of Music, IJME, RSME, Journal of Voice, Logopedics Phoniatrics Vocology
and others. Evangelos has worked and is currently working on numerous
funded research projects for work with leading UK Research Councils
such as the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the Economic and Social Sciences Research Council (ESRC), the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), grant-making foundations and charities such as The Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Royal National Institute of the Blind, the Amber Trust, Soundabout and the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, Government agencies and departments (such as DfES, QCA) and also the European Union.
As a sound engineer and researcher, Evangelos has recorded in numerous
venues (including York Minster, St.Paul's, Royal College of Music,
Institute of Education, etc.), with various artists such as Derek Lee
Ragin (Farinelli, Every Time I Feel the Spirit), Vanessa Mae (SONY BMG
Music) and Jarvis Cocker (Pulp) and for numerous media productions (for
the BBC, Channel Five, Discovery Channel, RTL, CBS). When time is
available, Evangelos works as an electric guitarist, vocalist and
guitar luthiery enthusiast!
special interests...
The Voice and Psychoacoustics, Music Technology, Human-Computer-Interaction (HCI) and interactive educational multimedia, multiple modalities and channels in virtual education.
contact details...
email: e.himonides@ioe.ac.uk, telephone: +44(0)20 76126599, fax: +44(0)20 76126741
Professor Lucy Green
Professor of Music Education, Deputy Head of the Department of Arts and Humanities
Lucy Green is Professor of Music Education. Her main research interests are in the sociology and philosophy of music, with special relation to education, social reproduction, musical meaning, gender, identity, ideology, youth, the pop/classical split, popular music and informal learning. Her most recent research formed a 'pathfinder' in the UK national 'Musical Futures' project. It involved developing and evaluating the adaptation of popular musicians' informal learning practices for the classroom environment. Lucy is the author of four books and numerous shorter pieces on music education. She has given keynote lectures and seminars at conferences and universities in Europe, Asia and the Americas, and sits on the editorial or advisory boards of a number of journals including Music Education Research, Radical Musicology, Popular Music and Gender Research in Music Education. At the Institute of Education she has contributed to all taught programmes in music, including the secondary and primary Post Graduate Certificate in Education, the MA in Music Education, and others. She has a number of research students from many different countries. Lucy's first degree was a B.Ed at Homerton College, Cambridge. From there she did an MA in Music (analytic methodology, sociology and philosophy of music) at Sussex University, followed by a D.Phil in Music and Education, also at Sussex. During that time she had a private piano teaching practice. After her doctorate she became Director of Music in a Sixth Form College, then Assistant Music Teacher in a large comprehensive school in the north of England, then Head of Music in an inner London comprehensive, before starting at the Institute as a Lecturer in Music Education in 1990. She is a singer and pianist, and practices both those arts when time allows.
special interests...
Sociology and philosophy of music with reference to education, social reproduction, musical meaning, gender, identity, ideology, youth, the pop/classical split, popular music, informal learning.
contact details...
email: l.green@ioe.ac.uk, telephone: +44(0)20 76126736, fax: +44(0)20 76126741
Dr Colin Durrant
Senior Lecturer in Music Education
Dr Colin Durrant leads the graduate programme in Music Education at the Institute of Education University of London . He has been Director of Choral Activities at the New England Conservatory in Boston, visiting Associate Professor in the School of Music at the University of Maryland and Principal Lecturer in Music and Music Education at the Roehampton University (formely titled University of Surrey Roehampton). He has a wide range of choral conducting and teaching experience and, following his doctoral research into the area of effective choral conducting, designed and developed a graduate programme in Choral Education at the University of Surrey Roehampton, the first and only one of its kind in the UK. His book Choral Conducting: Philosophy and Practice published by Routledge appeared in 2003. He is also on the editorial board of the International Journal of Research in Choral Singing. Colin Durrant has led choral conducting workshops in Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Taiwan and the USA as well as in Europe. He has written a number of articles on the area of music education and choral education with further interests in the philosophy of music and music education, the professional development of teachers and conductors and communication and leadership skills in music. Colin Durrant has also been Music Curriculum Consultant and Deputy Chief Examiner for Music for the International Baccalaureate Organisation. He currently conducts the University of London Chamber Choir and Imperial College Choir and has been invited to work with the BBC Singers in their outreach educational programme.
special interests...
Music Education, Choral Education, Philosophy of Music and Music Education, the professional development of teachers and conductors and communication and leadership skills in music.
contact details...
email: c.durrant@ioe.ac.uk, telephone: +44(0)20 76126179, fax: +44(0)20 76126741
Professor Susan Hallam
Professor of Education, Dean of Faculty of Policy and Society
Professor Susan Hallam was a professional musician and a music educator prior to undertaking a BA, MSc and Phd in the Psychology of Education. She joined the Institute of Education in 1991 and since then has received research funding from a wide range of bodies including the ESRC, DfES, MoD, and a range of charities and LAs for a range of projects relating to attendance at and behaviour in school, exclusion from school, school-home links, ability grouping in primary and secondary schools and research into instrumental music services. In addition she has undertaken research in relation to pedagogy in secondary and higher education, text understanding and conceptions of argument of post-graduate students, homework, learning in music and the effects of music on behaviour and studying.
special interests...
Disaffection, homework, learning (particularly in music) and the impact of music on behaviour.
contact details...
email: s.hallam@ioe.ac.uk, telephone: +44(0)20 76126371, fax: +44(0)20 76126632
Pauline Adams
Lecturer in Music Education
Pauline Adams is PGCE Secondary Music Subject Leader (Part Time & Flexible Routes) at the Institute of Education.
special interests...
Historical research in music education; Researching current Instrumental Practice in schools, LEAs and Music Centres; Research focus on development of partnerships between schools and Arts organisations and evaluating implications for teacher training.
contact details...
email: p.adams@ioe.ac.uk, telephone: +44(0)20 76126738, fax: +44(0)20 76126741
Kate Laurence
Lecturer in Music Education
Kate Laurence is PGCE Music Subject Leader/Lecturer in Music Education in the Department of Arts and Humanities, Institute of Education. Kate previously taught in London for 12 years having been an Assistant Headteacher, Director of Music and Advanced Skills Teacher of Music. Kate has been creative lead practitioner for the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust and she provides national INSET courses for music teachers through Keynote Educational. As part of her consultancy work for local authorities she founded and directed Westminster Youth Orchestra and developed the schools' music network. She was also responsible for reinstating Westminster's music service. Kate has advised upon and written content for the BBC Schools' website and has published materials for KS3 pupils with SFE. Kate is an active advisor to the Sibelius software education panel and author of two music education publications for Rhinegold. Kate's first degree was a BA (Hons) in Music at the University of York, followed by an MA in Music Education at The Institute of Education, University of London. Subsequent research has focused on the subject knowledge and skills of music educators, and the musical identities of teachers from BME backgrounds.
special interests...
World Music in the Curriculum, CPD for music educators, motivation and inclusion in music education, creative partnerships between schools and arts organisations.
contact details...
email: k.laurence@ioe.ac.uk, telephone: +44(0)20 79115552, fax: +44(0)20 76126741
Ross Purves
Lecturer in Music Technology, Research officer
Ross Purves is head of music at the Luton Sixform College and part-time Lecturer in Music Technology education at the Institute of Education, University of London. His doctoral work focuses on researching parallels between mathematics and music education. He has worked as research officer for numerous funded research projects including those funded by the ESRC and DfES. He has designed, developed and leads the 'Introduction to Music Technology in Education' postgraduate module with Evangelos Himonides. Ross Purves is a professional recording and performing jazz musician and has appeared in various shows and media.
special interests...
Music Technology, research methods, statistical methods for research in the social sciences, geographical information systems, the LOGO programming language.
contact details...
email: r.purves@ioe.ac.uk, telephone: +44(0)20 76126599, fax: +44(0)20 76126741
Professor Keith Swanwick
Emeritus Professor in Music Education
Keith Swanwick is Emeritus Professor at the University of London, Institute of Education. Previously he was Professor of Music Education and Dean of Research. He graduated with distinction from the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied trombone, piano, organ, composition and conducting. He then trained as a teacher and taught in secondary schools, further education and university. He has extensive experience as a choral and orchestral conductor and has also been an orchestral musician and a church organist. His PhD was a study of Music and the Education of the Emotions. From 1984 to 1998, with John Paynter, he was editor of the British Journal of Music Education. In 1987 he became the first Chairman of the British National Association for Education in the Arts and from 1991 to 1995 was Chair of the Music Education Council (UK). During 1998 he was Visiting Professor, University of Washington and from 1999-2001 was Advisory Professor at the Institute of Education in Hong Kong. In 2004 he held a Fellowship of the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science in Tokyo. Other international engagements include venues in New Zealand, Australia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Holland, Spain, Cyprus, Canada, Singapore, Iceland, the USA, Brazil, Portugal and Jamaica.
special interests...
Philosophy and psychology of musical experience, children's musical development and the evaluation of music teaching and learning
contact details...
email: k.swanwick@ioe.ac.uk, telephone: +44(0)20 76126142, fax: +44(0)20 76126741
Dr Charles Plummeridge
Emeritus Reader in Education
Dr Charles Plummeridge is Emeritus Reader in Education at the Institute of Education. He studied music at Trinity College London. After graduating and completing a PGCE he taught in primary and secondary schools for a period of fifteen years. As an organist and choral conductor he has been, and continues to be, much involved in community activities.
Dr Plummeridge joined the staff at the Institute of Education in 1977 and has taught on all courses in music education. He was also head of the B.Ed centre for many years where he and his colleagues developed degree courses for serving teachers both in this country and abroad. His publications cover a range of topics in music education and include a historical and comparative survey for the revised New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.
He has been visiting professor at the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland and has lectured in Sweden, Hong Kong, Singapore, Cyprus, Portugal, Jamaica and South Africa.
special interests...
His research interests are in curriculum areas and the history of music education. He has a sympathetic interest in those children who do not like attending school.
contact details...
email: c.plummeridge@ioe.ac.uk, telephone: +44(0)20 76126737, fax: +44(0)20 76126741
Professor Johan Sundberg
Visiting Professor
Johan Sundberg (born in 1936, Ph.D. in musicology Uppsala University 1966, doctor honoris causae 1996 University of York, UK) has a personal Chair (Emeritus) in Music Acoustics at the department of Speech Music and Hearing (KTH), Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm. He early became interested in the acoustical aspects of music, starting with a doctoral dissertation work on organ pipes. After the dissertation, singing voice and music performance have been his main research topics. He led the music acoustics research group from 1970 to 2004. In Musikens Ljudlära Sundberg presents music acoustics in popularized form to the interested layman. As the President of the Music Acoustics Committee of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, Sundberg has been the editor of eight volumes in a series of proceedings of public seminars on music acoustic themes arranged in Stockholm since 1975. Sundberg has also had extensive experience of performing music. For 24 years he was a member of the Stockholm Bach Choir, 9 years as its president. He has studied singing for Dagmar Gustafson and made his public debute with a Lieder recital on his 50th birthday. He is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, of the Swedish Acoustical Society (President 1976-81) and a fellow of the Acoustical Society of America.
special interests...
Acoustical aspects of Music, the Science of the Singing Voice.
contact details...
email: pjohan@speech.kth.se, telephone: +44(0)20 76126740 (department administrator), fax: +44(0)20 76126741
Professor Adam Ockelford
Visiting Research Fellow
Adam has a background as a composer, performer, teacher and researcher. While attending the Royal Academy of Music in London, Adam started working with children with special needs - a number of whom, he noticed, had special musical abilities too - and he became interested in how we all intuitively make sense of music, without the need for formal education. Adam pursued this line of enquiry, and gained a PhD in music at Goldsmith's College in London in 1993, in which he set out his 'zygonic' theory of musical understanding. This theory has proved a valuable tool in music theory and analysis, in investigating musical development, and exploring interaction in music therapy and education.
special interests...
Adam is currently Professor of Music at Roehampton University, where his research interests are in music psychology, education, theory and aesthetics - particularly special educational needs and the development of exceptional abilities; learning, memory and creativity; the cognition of musical structure and the construction of musical meaning.
contact details...
email: a.ockelford@roehampton.ac.uk, telephone: +44(0)20 76126740 (department administrator), fax: +44(0)20 76126741
Dr Desmond Sergeant
Visiting Research Fellow
Dr. Desmond Sergeant is a Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Education. He studied voice and piano at the Royal College of Music, London, and conducting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He was Head of Music at Froebel College of Higher Education, and later at the University of Surrey, Roehampton, and has also taught in several universities in USA.
As a singer, he has appeared in many operatic roles, and has wide experience as a choral trainer, having directed many major works of the choral repertoire.
He was founding editor of the journal 'Psychology of Music' and is a past chair of the Society for Education Music and Psychology Research (Sempre).
Research publications extend to fields of cognitive development, perception of serialism, and voice measurement (in collaboration with Prof. Graham Welch). Publications are mostly in English, but also appear in Spanish, Italian and Japanese.
In 1987 he was nominated Distinguished Foreign Scholar by the Mid-America State University Association (MASUA).
Desmond has a keen interest in theatre, and has written several musicals for young players.
special interests...
Psychology of Music, especially pitch perception and cognition, child and choral voice. Current research includes measurement of voice quality, gender and music performance.
contact details...
email: desmondsgt@supanet.com, telephone: +44(0)20 76126740 (department administrator), fax: +44(0)20 76126741
Dr Andrea Creech
Research Officer
Dr Andrea Creech has extensive experience as a professional musician, music teacher and researcher. She has held principal positions in orchestras in the UK and Canada and subsequently was founder and director of a Community Music School in the Republic of Ireland. Her PhD research was concerned with the impact on learning outcomes of interpersonal interaction amongst violin students, their parents and teachers. Andrea has worked on research teams for a number of funded projects including Investigating Music Performance (ESRC/TLRP), evaluation of CPD for Music Leaders (Youth Music), Evaluation of Behaviour Improvement Programme (DfES), Evaluation of Voices Foundation Primer (DfES), National Survey of Music Services 2005 (DfES), Evaluation of Skill Force in Kent Schools (DfES), investigating the PhD Student Experience (IOE) and a collaborative project on motivation, aspirations and self-perceptions in the Conservatoire with an international research group. She was project manager for the EMI Music Sound Foundation primary music training project, a literature review of research concerned with Parental Aspirations of Teenage Mothers for the CfBT Education Trust and the National Survey of Music Services 2007 (DfES). Her special research interests are musical development across the lifespan and the impact of interpersonal relationships on learning and teaching outcomes. Andrea has presented her work at international conferences and published widely.
special interests...
Musical development across the lifespan and the impact of interpersonal relationships on learning and teaching outcomes.
contact details...
email: a.creech@ioe.ac.uk, telephone: +44(0)20 79115376, fax: +44(0)20 76126741
Dr Ioulia Papageorgi
Research Officer
Dr Ioulia Papageorgi is the Coordinating Research Officer for the Investigating Musical Performance: Comparative Studies in Advanced Musical Learning project. She is also involved in several other funded research projects in fields of music psychology and music education. She frequently lectures to postgraduate students and is a PhD students' support tutor for quantitative and qualitative data analysis. Ioulia has presented at international conferences and seminars and has published her work in international peer-reviewed journals. Ioulia's PhD thesis (Institute of Education, University of London) focused on understanding performance anxiety in adolescent musicians. She also holds an MA in Music Education (Institute of Education, University of London), a BA (Hons) in Music (University of Leeds), a Piano Diploma (Distinction) and a Harmony Diploma (Distinction) (National Conservatoire of Athens). Ioulia is an active performer and is the appointed pianist of Leandros Sitaros choir, with which she regularly performs as a pianist and chorister in concerts and festivals at an international level.
special interests...
Psychology of music and musical performance, performance anxiety, learning (particularly in music), music cognition and research methods in the social sciences (both quantitative and qualitative).
contact details...
email: i.papageorgi@ioe.ac.uk, telephone: +44(0)20 79115376, fax: +44(0)20 76126741
