Fwd: Opportunity: 5-year postdoc in Music and AI at the University of Cambridge

Dear colleagues,

 

We are now advertising an exciting 5-year postdoctoral research position in Music and AI here at the University of Cambridge. The position gives considerable scope to develop a research agenda related to the broad mission of advancing music AI for the benefit of humanity. Possible topics include (but are not limited to): developing AI tools to support performers, composers, and arrangers; developing new multidisciplinary approaches to computational creativity; developing music AI tools for health and wellbeing.

 

The University of Cambridge is a great place to work (this year the Financial Times named it the UK's top employer): there's all kinds of exciting research going on, lots of music-making, the city is beautiful and historic, and you're just a short train ride from London. You'd join a vibrant and friendly community of music cognition and AI researchers in the Centre for Music and Science (within the Faculty of Music) with computing resources, research seminars, and many collaboration opportunities.

 

Here is a link to the official advertisement (application deadline: 21 October). It lists our Faculty Chair as the official contact, but please feel welcome to contact me directly if you would like to know more about the Centre for Music and Science and our research network.

 

Please do share this with anyone you think might be interested!

 

Best wishes

Peter

-- 

Peter Harrison

Director, Centre for Music & Science  

Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies, Faculty of Music 

Fellow and Director of Studies in Music, Churchill College  

University of Cambridge

Fwd: inaugural hybrid Musical Care International Conference

[sent on behalf of Professor Neta Spiro, RCM]

Dear all

We're delighted to invite submissions to the inaugural hybrid Musical Care International Conference, hosted by Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh from 9–11 June 2027. 

The conference explores musical care, the role of music, both listening and music-making, in supporting people's developmental and health needs. It brings together practitioners, researchers, people with lived experience, and policymakers across fields including music therapy, music psychology, ethnomusicology, community music, and music education, spanning diverse disciplinary and cultural perspectives.

Rather than traditional paper presentations, sessions take a dialogue format: short spoken or musical contributions grouped by theme, followed by a facilitated discussion. You can attend either in person in Edinburgh or online.

A few key details:

• Call for contributions is open:10-minute talks, 5-minute talks, or electronic posters. The submission deadline is 23 October 2026, and accepted abstracts will be published in advance in Approaches: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Music Therapy.
• Early bird registration closes 30 January 2027. Fees start at £115 (standard, in-person) and £55 (online), with reduced rates for students, unemployed/underemployed attendees, and those from low- and middle-income countries. Some travel support will be available.
• On-campus accommodation can be booked for the conference nights.

Full details, the provisional programme, and booking are on the conference page:
https://www.qmu.ac.uk/news-and-events/events-listing/musical-care-international-conference

Please do feel free to send this information around to other who you think might like to submit. 

Hope to see you there,

Neta

Professor Neta Spiro
Professor of Music Psychology

 
CENTRE FOR
PERFORMANCE SCIENCE 
 
The CPS is a partnership of
Royal College of Music | Imperial College London
 
www.PerformanceScience.ac.uk

Fwd: IDyOM v1.8

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Marcus Pearce <0001ca105d8b2838-dmarc-request@jiscmail.ac.uk>
Date: Mon, 28 Sept 2026 at 20:50
Subject: IDyOM v1.8
To: <MUSIC-AND-SCIENCE@jiscmail.ac.uk>

**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:

Dear all,

I'm pleased to announce v1.8 of IDyOM (Information Dynamics of Music). Documentation and downloads are available at:

https://mtpearce.github.io/idyom/

This release contains updates to harmony modelling alongside general bug fixes. There is also improved documentation for modelling harmony and similarity as well as tools for music generation and key finding. See the README for full details of new features in this release.

IDyOM is a computational framework for constructing multiple-viewpoint, variable-order Markov models for predictive modelling of probabilistic structure in symbolic, sequential auditory domains such as music. IDyOM acquires information about a domain through statistical learning and generates conditional probability distributions representing the estimated likelihood of each event in a sequence, plus associated information-theoretic measures, given the preceding context and prior short- and long-term training of the model. IDyOM has been used to simulate musical expectations, perceptual similarity, auditory memory, complexity perception and experience of pleasure.

Marcus

-- 
Dr Marcus Pearce
School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science 
Queen Mary University of London
https://www.marcus-pearce.com

New book: Learning to Listen, Listening to Learn
https://academic.oup.com/book/60588

Fwd: Extended deadline: CfP: Performance Studies Network International Conference, July 15–18 2027, University of Leeds, UK

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Emily Payne <0000ec4133ee26ad-dmarc-request@jiscmail.ac.uk>
Date: Fri, 11 Sept 2026 at 20:53
Subject: Extended deadline: CfP: Performance Studies Network International Conference, July 15–18 2027, University of Leeds, UK
To: <MUSIC-AND-SCIENCE@jiscmail.ac.uk>

**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:

The Eighth Performance Studies International Conference will be hosted by the School of Music, University of Leeds, UK, on 15–18 July 2027 (both in person and online).  

The deadline for proposals has been extended to 21 September 2026 (Midnight GMT). 

The conference will address a wide range of musics, methodologies, questions, and practices relating to Performance Studies.  

 

We invite contributions that reflect this diversity, including (but not limited to) early music, contemporary and experimental music, global musics, acoustic, popular, electronic and multimedia performance. We encourage a broad range of approaches including musical instrument studies, performance practices including historically informed approaches and analytical approaches to performance and recordings, contemporary and ‘extended’ instruments and techniques, psychological approaches to performance and audience research, and pedagogic research in music performance. However, any topic in the field of music performance studies will be considered.  

 

The conference programme will include: 

Discussion session: ‘Equality and Diversity in Performance Studies’ led by Dr Amy Bliers-Carruthers (GSMD) with contributions from Dr Sam Murray (University of Leeds), Dr Diljeet Bhachu (Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Officer, MU), and Grace Goodwin (University of Liverpool / Gender Equity in Music across Europe). 

 

Interactive workshop: ‘Music&Me: Exploring a Musical Identities Toolkit to support musicians to navigate their futures’ led by Prof. Karen Burland (University of Leeds) and Dr Michelle Phillips (RNCM). 

 

Discussion session: ‘Developing practice-research methods and values as pedagogies for performance and beyond’, led by Dr Scott McLaughlin (University of Leeds) with contributions from Dr Mira Benjamin (City St George's, University of London), and Dr Lauren Redhead (Goldsmiths, University of London).  

 

Synthesizer ensemble performance-practice workshop led by Dr Ewan Stefani (University of Leeds), part of the Synthesizer Research Network (SyReN). 

 

Musical performances hosted by the University of Leeds International Concert Series. 

 

We welcome proposals from scholars, postgraduate researchers, and practitioners at all stages of their careers.  

 

Proposals are invited for: 

- Individual papers/presentations (20 mins + 10 mins discussion; delivered in person or remotely via video conference)  

- Lecture-recitals/performance-lectures/demonstrations of practice (30 mins + 10 mins discussion; in-person only) 

- Special themed sessions (1 hr + 15 mins discussion; delivered in person or remotely via video conference) 

 

Proposals can be submitted to https://forms.office.com/e/ViXxFnPeUB 

- Format of proposal: 

- Name(s) of presenter(s) 

- Contact email address 

- Title and type of presentation (as specified above) 

- Abstract (250 words) 

- Biography of presenter(s) (100 words) 

- Technical requirements (beyond normal AV presentation facilities) 

  

Key dates: 

 - Proposal deadline (extended): 21 September 2026 (Midnight GMT) 

- Notification of acceptance: January 2027 

- Provisional conference programme announced; registration opens: February 2027 

 

The conference is being held in association with SEMPRE who have kindly offered support in the form of bursaries for student or unwaged presenters (to cover registration fees, accommodation, and travel costs). The application process for bursaries will happen after papers are accepted and presenters have been notified. 

 

Further information can be found on the conference website: www.psn2027.co.uk 

 

Please send any questions to psn2027@leeds.ac.uk 

 

Dr Emily Payne and Dr Scott McLaughlin, Conference co-organisers 

 

School of Music, University of Leeds, UK  

Dr Emily Payne (she/her) (hear my name)

Associate Professor of Music

Director of Postgraduate Research Studies, School of Music

Programme Co-Lead, MMus Performance

School of Music, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK

https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/music/staff/396/dr-emily-payne