Our Hub brings academics and non-academics together. We aim to connect music research to real world settings. This informs government policy to make a lasting impact on musical communities across the UK.
At the Centre for Music Education and Social Justice, we recognise that music can be a transformative vehicle for change. We are leading music researchers, social justice activists and practitioners. We encourage creative ways for academics and different parts of society to work together on projects. This includes working-class and ethnic minority communities, disabled musicians, and people with mental health challenges.
As home to the AHRC Hub for Public Engagement with Music Research, we will develop project design models focused on outcomes and policy. We will provide expert advice on co-created research to address inequalities in music education and the industry. This includes issues like sexism, bullying, and abuse, as highlighted in reports such as the 2024 Misogyny in Music Report. We support the Government’s manifesto statement that "The arts and music will no longer be limited to a privileged few."
Over two years, the Hub will provide a range of training and networking opportunities. We will fund 4 ‘spoke’ projects that focus on the following themes of:
- health and wellbeing
- civic and cohesive communities
- creative education
- technological innovation
Our outcomes-led approach will address historic gaps between music research and public engagement. We will achieve this by empowering and upskilling academics and non-academics to apply music research in real-world settings. This will help to capture, test and share results widely, for example in policy briefs. This will have an impact across sectors.
Project team
Erin Johnson-Williams – Project Lead
Benjamin Oliver – Project Co-Lead
Lisa Tregale – Project Co-Lead
Caz Creagh – Public Engagement Professional
Jess Williams – Grant Manager