PhD Studentship: Musical Engagement Across the Lifespan

Faculty of Health and Life Sciences

3 Year, full-time PhD studentship

Eligibility: Home UK/EU applicants who must be permanently resident in UK (settled or pre-settled status)

Bursary p.a.: Bursary equivalent to UKRI national minimum stipend plus fees (current 2022/23 bursary rate is £17,668)

University fees and bench fees: University fees and bench fees will be met by the University for the 3 years of the funded Studentship.

Closing date:  14 April 2023

Interviews: tbc 

Start date:  September 2023

Project Title: Musical engagement across the lifespan

Director of Studies: Dr Clare Rathbone

Other Supervisors: Dr Adam Lonsdale and Dr Mark Burgess

Requirements:

Applicants should have a first or upper second-class honours degree from a Higher Education Institution in the UK or acceptable equivalent qualification. EU Applicants must have a valid IELTS Academic test certificate (or equivalent) with an overall minimum score of 7.0 and no score below 6.0 issued in the last 2 years by an approved test centre.

Project Description:

Most people find listening to music to be an enjoyable and rewarding experience; and one that helps individuals to regulate their mood, fosters social interaction, supports a sense of self and promotes psychological well-being. However research on this topic has tended to focus on the experiences of adolescents and young adults. Nonetheless, there is good reason to suspect that older adults might engage with music differently to their younger counterparts (Lonsdale & North, 2011). As the proportion of older adults in many developed nations is set to increase significantly over the next few decades it is important that research accurately reflects the role that music plays in an ageing society. The proposed PhD project could employ either qualitative or quantitative methods to investigate how people of all ages use, respond to, and value music and how this might change across the lifespan.

The project should also seek to explore the possible reasons for any age-related changes in musical engagement (e.g., personality, identity, emotional intelligence, lifestyle & technological factors, etc.).

A project could also consider focusing on significant transitions in an individual’s life (e.g., starting school, leaving home for university, becoming a parent & retirement) to establish the extent to which these developmental milestones affect people’s engagement with music. Research students will have the opportunity to apply ideas and theoretical frameworks from a variety of different topic areas and disciplines to tackle these questions.

There is an additional requirement to undertake up to 6 hours undergraduate teaching/week during semesters and to participate in a teaching skills course without further remuneration.

Please direct any questions about the project to Dr. Adam Lonsdale (alonsdale@brookes.ac.uk) 

This project is advertised on a competitive basis alongside other current Nigel Groome PhD studentship advertisements for Psychology, Health and Professional Development projects. 

How to apply:

Applicants should visit the project webpage to download instructions on how to submit an online application. Complete applications should include a project proposal (max 1000 words) including background, aims and an outline of how those aims will be addressed. Applicants can liaise with Dr Adam Lonsdale (alonsdale@brookes.ac.uk) when developing their proposal'. For application enquiries contact hls-applications@brookes.ac.uk.

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