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Rory Wells PhD candidate

I joined the ICCM on the Master's programme after completing my undergraduate degree. My study considered community music as activist-musicianship, informed by my work in refugee and sanctuary seeking communities in the UK and internationally. This led me on to my PhD studies where I am exploring the community music movement as a form of social and political activism. Being part of the ICCM has been hugely valuable not just academically, but has also really helped me solidify, improve, and challenge my own practice as a community musician. I have been able to stay in tune with, and contribute to, cutting edge conversations on democratising and challenging taken for granted paradigms in music-making across the globe.

Ruth Currie Lecturer

I joined ICCM as a part-time PhD researcher in 2015. At this time, I was self-employed as a music education and cultural sector evaluator and project manager, working with publicly funding organisations on a wide range of projects with social impact aims. Undertaking my PhD at ICCM offered an environment where I could explore my practice in different ways, which both challenged and enriched my professional life. Being part of a passionate international research community of musicians, educators and cultural workers provided me opportunities that I hadn't encountered before. Being a postgraduate researcher through the ICCM offers space to connect and explore big questions in critical ways as part of a supportive community, alongside the potential to lead and contribute to academic events. Since completing my PhD in 2021, I have continued to work as part of the ICCM community, editing the postgraduate journal Transform and leading on funded research. I have gone on to work in higher education as a Lecturer where a big part of my job is the development of postgraduate researchers.

Jo Gibson Alumni researcher and Research fellow

I joined ICCM as a PhD researcher in 2015. I was keen to better understand my musical doing with others including its relationship to wider systems and power structures. I explored this through my PhD titled Making Music Together: The community musician's role in music-making with others via a practice research strategy. After my PhD, I worked with ICCM as a Research Associate, alongside my practice. It was a memorable time of feeling believed in. Being part of a research community and having opportunities to learn through experience, such as supporting the coordination of student symposiums and developing events, was invaluable. I currently work as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, for the Music for Social Impact project and I look forward to returning to York St John as an Institute for Social Justice Research Fellow.