**This list is managed by Professor Evangelos Himonides, University College London (UCL). Before 2015, this list was managed by the Institute of Musical Research (IMR).** MESSAGE FOLLOWS:
Call for Papers:
SEMPRE Spring Conference
The Participatory Turn in Music: Education, Cognition, Knowledge
15 April 2027 – 16 April 2027
King’s College London, UK, and online.
Keynote Speaker: Dr Erin Johnson-Williams, University of Southampton
The conference theme for SEMPRE 2027 is The Participatory Turn in Music: Education, Cognition, Knowledge. The presentation of any new research is welcome at the conference, whether it engages with this theme or not.
This year’s theme explores the contested practices and meanings of musical participation as negotiated within music education, psychology, and performance across academic institutions, local communities, and wider society. By focusing on the collective and collaborative dimensions of music, the theme invites us to reflect on the actors—people, spaces, objects, technologies, concepts—involved in determining what counts as music, as well as how, where, and by whom it is produced, listened, taught, and performed. Who participates in the construction of music (as education, cognition, and knowledge)? How might we approach questions of musical participation through perspectives including psychology, phenomenology, history, ethnography, performance studies, or analysis? What can the study of participation reveal about power, agency, social relations, past and possible selves, and the collective fears and aspirations that shape our academic and musical communities?
The theme of musical participation invites us to look inward at our own institutions and disciplines, examining their hidden curricula and hierarchies, and considering the ways in which musical experience is performed, defined, measured, categorised, and transformed into transferable knowledge. At the same time, it invites us to look beyond institutional settings to community spaces, exploring how musical participation may be conceptualised differently and how different communities might speak to, challenge, enrich, and collaborate with academic institutions.
The theme also asks us to reflect on recent calls to make music more collaborative. In a “participatory turn”, music institutions have become increasingly concerned with social impact and community engagement; musicians have blurred the boundaries between performers and listeners; and cognitive scientists have explored how participation shapes embodiment and emplacement. At the same time, pressing questions around coloniality, equity, and inclusivity have raised questions about whether ostensibly democratic and emancipatory ideals of musical participation can sometimes obscure existing inequalities and inaccessibility.
We therefore invite proposals that explore musical participation in the broadest sense, as well as proposals on subjects outside the conference theme.
The Programme and Arrangements Committees for SEMPRE @ KCL 2027 are delighted to announce the keynote speaker for this year’s conference: Dr Erin Johnson-Williams (Associate Professor in Music Education and Social Justice, University of Southampton; Project Lead, AHRC Public Engagement with Music Research Hub; Deputy Director, Centre for Music Education and Social Justice).
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: 4 December 2026
We welcome proposals for:
- Papers (20 minutes with 10 minutes for questions)
- Panels (3 or 4 related papers on a shared theme, totalling 1.5 or 2 hours)
- Roundtables (3–5 shorter presentations, 10–15 minutes each, followed by a chaired discussion, totalling 1.5 or 2 hours)
- Performance-based presentations or workshops (20 minutes with 10 minutes for questions). Please contact the organising committee to discuss possible ideas.
- Posters (delegates will need to print the poster independently (poster board size: 12cm wide and 177cm high) and bring it to the conference, where it will be displayed in a designated area for the entire duration of the event).
- Films, audio pieces, podcasts/digital audio, or other media presentations (20 or 50 minutes with 10 minutes for questions). Please contact the organising committee to discuss possible ideas.
Guidance for Submissions
Please do not include any presenter names in the titles or abstracts of submissions. All submissions will undergo anonymous review, and reviewers will not be made aware of the author identity or affiliation until final decisions have been made.
Individuals: Individuals proposing papers, posters, performance-based or audio-visual sessions (including films and audio pieces) must include an abstract (max. 250 words) and a biography (max. 100 words) with their submission. For films and other media pieces, where possible, please submit a link to the piece.
Roundtables: The chair of the roundtable should submit an abstract for the session that gives some indication of each presenter’s contribution (max. 500 words), along with biographies of all speakers (max. 100 words per speaker).
Panels: The chair of the panel should submit an abstract for the session (max. 250 words), along with individual abstracts (max. 250 words per speaker) and biographies (max. 100 words per speaker) of all speakers.
Performances and media presentations: Please contact the organising committee directly to discuss possible ideas.
Organising and Programme Committee:
Dr Javier Rivas
Dr Esther Cavett
Dr Cayenna Ponchione-Bailey
Dr Alexander Douglas
Dr Elizabeth McGregor
Prof Sally Marlow
SEMPRE Conference Awards
The Sempre Conference Awards (https://sempre.org.uk/awards/award-categories/sempre-conference-awards/) are intended to enable full-time students or part-timers who are non-wage earners to attend one of the Society’s conferences or a conference in association with Sempre through meeting the fee and the costs of travel and subsistence. Typically, we encourage online participation whenever feasible.
Applicants should apply to present a paper or poster to the conference concerned in the usual way and, if successful in being selected to present at the event, should then complete an official Sempre Conference Awards application form.
Aubrey Hickman Award (£500 biennially)
The Aubrey Hickman Award (https://sempre.org.uk/awards/award-categories/aubrey-hickman-award/) is offered biennially to a postgraduate researcher or early career researcher (defined as being within two years of having been awarded their doctorate) submitting the best paper to the Society’s Spring conference. The Award will be given in recognition of a paper that offers a significant and previously unpublished contribution to the knowledge and understanding of music education and/or music psychology.
Applicants should submit an extended abstract of 2000-3000 words to the SEMPRE Conference Secretary by 4 December 2026. Conditions of acceptance of the award are that the winner will present a paper at the Society’s Spring conference and that the full research paper (of 6000-8000 words) is offered first to one of the Society’s three journals–Psychology of Music, Music & Science, or Research Studies in Music Education–for consideration for publication.
DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: 4 December 2026
