Music and science can go hand in hand to evoke specific emotion and alleviate psychological distress.

This node focuses on the pairing of specifically-composed music for the evocation of calm and/or catharsis, with scientific endeavour, and other creative outputs. The aim is to embark on projects that encourage psychological wellness, in both pathological and everyday settings.

The benefits of music to our health and well-being seem self-evident, although few studies have investigated this nexus. Our theme examines whether there are forms of music that are universally beneficial, or whether age, gender, taste and cultural background are factors. We will explore the physiological effects of music and their relationship to emotion.

Our theme explores theories and research from a range of academic disciplines such as music composition, performance, sociology, psychology and physiology. This theme explores the benefits of music for our health and how it can be used in a range of settings, from the pathological to the everyday, to benefit the health and wellbeing of all.

Our theme is looking for connections between music performance, music perception and emotions and the potential for developing predictive frameworks that permit the deployment of music for specific therapeutic outcomes.

• Mr Martin Brown (Project Co-Leader)
• Mr Jim Cook
• Professor Nicholas Glozier
• Professor Matthew Hindson
• Dr James Humberstone
• Mr Andrew Lavery
• Dr Natalie Nicolas (Project Co-Leader)
• Dr Jude Philp
• Professor Philip Poronnik