I'm going to The University of Sydney!

Hi Everyone,

It's been a busy last few weeks for me as I have recently received a Worldwide Universities Network Researcher Mobility Programme Award to visit The University of Sydney in 2014 (http://www.shef.ac.uk/music/newsevents/rt191113-1.328785).  

This is really exciting news and I cannot wait to begin collaborating with Prof. Alexander Blaszczynski (http://sydney.edu.au/science/people/alex.blaszczynski.php) who conducts pioneering research in the field of gambling studies.  We will work together on two projects investigating the influence of music on gambling behaviour.  

We will also collaborate with two other academics - Prof. Dianna Kenny (http://fdp.edsw.usyd.edu.au/users/dkenny) and Dr. Daniel King (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/directory/daniel.king).  Together we will further the understanding of music's roles within gambling and gaming.

I am writing-up my thesis at the moment, almost ready to submit my first draft to my supervisors.  After this, I will begin drafting a Research Plan for implementation in Sydney.

Looking forward to 2014 already!

Best wishes,

Steph

Is a conference a "platform for disagreement?"

Hi Everyone,

These words were spoken by Gary Ansdell, a music therapist, trainer and researcher, and Director of Education for Nordoff Robbins (http://www.nordoff-robbins.org.uk/) at a recent conference entitled Music and Communication: Music Therapy and Music Psychology held on 20th September 2013.

The focus of the conference was to bring together researchers from the fields of Music Therapy and Music Psychology to discuss the concept of Music and Communication.  These are two fields, which have traditionally researched music from different theoretical positions, using different methodologies but often were probing similar research questions.

During the conference researchers from both fields collaborated to consider "what should we know about music and communication?".  The notion of a conference being a "platform for disagreement" was a phrase that made me sit-up, listen and consider the importance of conferences for researchers.  

The word "disagreement" can be associated with negativity which for some individuals may be associated with challenging others or being challenged.  However, it was clear that the conference stimulated conversations which were positive and beneficial to those attending.  

Mutual respect, the sharing of ideas/approaches/research focuses were promoted, thereby illustrating that communicating and being open-minded would broaden our knowledge about music and communication, and both fields too. It was clear that the conference provided a "platform for discussion", which is, in my opinion slightly different to "platform for disagreement", and those discussions took various forms, but central to them was the notion that the majority of researchers are concerned with investigating music and people.  

For me, it was refreshing for a conference to actively promote discussion about an area of research with individuals who share common goals and I am sure that it will promote future research collaborations.

For more information about the conference have a look at: http://www.nordoff-robbins.org.uk/content/what-we-do/research-and-resources/nordoff-robbins-plus-conference-series.

Bye for now.

Stephanie.

Forthcoming Student Study Day - Call for Papers

Hi Everyone,

My friend Caroline is organising a Student Study Day in conjunction with SEMPRE, have a read of the Call for Papers below for more information:

CALL FOR PAPERS

SEMPRE Study Day at the University of Hull - Friday 8 November 2013 Organised in connection with the SEMPRE Music and Empathy conference, this student study day is open to both postgraduate and final year undergraduate students. The event will provide postgraduate students with an opportunity to share their research. It will also provide undergraduate and postgraduate students with the opportunity to develop research skills, network with peers and academics from a variety of research disciplines and to learn about current research in the field of music psychology and music education.
The study day will comprise 20-minute papers engaging with a variety of topics. There will also be a lunchtime concert, poster presentations and a practical workshop in which students can experience how theoretical research can be applied in a practical setting. Interdisciplinary research and debate is strongly encouraged and we welcome papers from many disciplines including music psychology, music education, music therapy, sociology and neuroscience.  
Proposals for both spoken and poster presentations are welcome from postgraduate students at all levels. Submissions should clearly show how the presentation topic relates to the study of music psychology and/or music education. Please send abstracts (200 words) by email to Sarah Mawby (contact details below) by Friday 27 September 2013.
 This is an exciting opportunity for students from a variety of disciplines to connect with one another and share their ideas; developing research skills that they can then carry forward into their own academic studies.
For further information please contact:Sarah Mawby
School of Music
University of Leeds
Leeds, LS2 9JT
Email: mc07slm@leeds.ac.uk
Caroline Waddington
School of Music & Drama
University of Hull
Hull, HU6 7RX
Email: c.e.waddington@2011.hull.ac.uk

Five tips for making the most of conferences

Hi again,

Whilst at ICME3, I thought that it would be good to share with you some tips about attending a conference.

1) Before you go think about what you want to get out of the conference?

It is easy to register to attend a conference, however, it is more difficult to think specifically about why it is necessary or relevant for you to be there. Yes, it is nice to be immersed within your field of study for a prolonged period of time and it is also lovely to visit another city, however you can be more specific about what you want to get out of a conference.

Try writing a brief list of aims - for example, identifying which researcher/academics you would like to talk to, identify which methodologies you want to learn more about or which of your research ideas do you want this conference to inform.

2) Networking

It is the buzzword within the academic community at the moment, however, for some, myself included it is sometimes difficult to actually network in reality.  Have a look at the advice from Vitae which may help you: http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/1237/Networking-.html  I think that being friendly, interested in the other person's research and keeping a certain question to ask the person in mind when initiating a conversation will help. Also, try to keep in contact after the conference by following fellow delegates on Twitter, Facebook or Academia.edu.

3) Be sociable!

Related to networking is being sociable.  At conferences it is easy to fall into the trap of isolating yourself from the rest of the people at the conference.  You often do this by identifying either from noticing that a number of people are from the same university/department and then formulating cliques in your mind! But, remember that although delegates may be affiliated to the same university/department they may not know each other - some could be completing PhDs from distance or work in a completely different campus - so try to be proactive and initiate conversations with others.  Conferences are all about sharing ideas, practice and learning from each other.

4) Help yourself!

Prepare photocopies of your poster, abstracts and papers presented at previous conferences for people to take away.  This will make it easy for other people to read about you and your research at their leisure.  For example, a poster is often displayed for a day at a conference but it is likely that you will not be at your poster for the whole day. Leaving photocopies and print-outs near to your poster will make it easy for your work to be disseminated concisely and quickly to those who are interested in it.

5) Reflection

At conferences you are bombarded with lots of information - the conference programme, abstract booklet, proceedings, flyers about new books, future conference etc.  It is impossible to read and digest this information during the conference, so when you return dedicate a morning or afternoon to re-reading your notes and the information provided to you during the conference. This will help you to determine which talks and papers are useful to your own research.

Are these tips helpful? Let me know what you think...

All the best,

Steph

Back from ICME3!

Hi Everyone,

I'm back from ICME3 in Jyväskylä, Finland ! 

Below are a few photos of me in action - presenting and with my poster! 

If you haven't already, you can download my paper from the conference proceedings: 

https://jyx.jyu.fi/dspace/handle/123456789/41627

The highlight of the conference for me, was without doubt, the keynote speech given by Professor Daniel Västfjäll http://www.decisionresearch.org/people/vastfjall/.  

He spoke about a concept called Emoacoustics is a research program which aims to determine the emotions aroused by music and sound/acoustics.  I am glad that Daniel is researching sounds and acoustics as within my own research I am investigated the role of sound effects in gambling environments.  Sounds and music are experienced in a wide range of everyday situations and as Daniel articulated within his talk sound-induced emotions can inform our decision-making and judgments.  

Moreover, I was really excited to learn about Daniel's recent experiment which has manipulated the underlying mechanisms as proposed in this article: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18826699 to determine how and why we have emotional responses to music.    I think we had a sneak-preview of this research at the conference so am really looking forward to reading the journal article when it is published! 

I have returned from ICME3 with lots of ideas to consider for future research and will be hard at work to prepare for the 13th International Conference of Music Perception and Cognition (ICMPC) which will be held in South Korea next year.

Bye for now,

Steph

Getting ready to present in June! Gambling, music and emotion

Hello everyone,

I am thrilled to let you know that I will be presenting a paper and displaying a poster at the forthcoming 3rd International Conference on Music and Emotion.  The conference will be held in  Jyväskylä, Finland in June this year.  This will be my first visit to Finland and I am very much looking forward to it.  

At the conference I will be disseminating the findings of my recent experiment which has examined whether affect or arousal are responsible for music tempo's effects on gambling behaviour.  I will also be revealing gamblers' responses to the music they hear when gambling and gamblers' perceived effects of music on their emotions when gambling.

Have a look at the conference website for some more information, including details of who will be giving keynote talks.  

https://www.jyu.fi/hum/laitokset/musiikki/en/music-and-emotion-2013-ICME3

I am particularly looking forward to listening to Daniel Västfjäll's talk about his research about the roles of affect and mood in music listening experiences.  Especially as I am interested in examining whether music-induced mood and affect has implications for gambling behaviour and which psychological mechanisms are responsible for music's effects on behaviour.

Will blog again soon!

Steph