Our research helps highlight opportunities that might otherwise go unnoticed. They help us train our students more effectively. Ultimately, they give us the knowledge we need to evolve our approach in a way that makes it more impactful for the people we support. Here are some of the projects currently being undertaken by our researchers.
Researchers: Jacob Harrison, Fatima Lahham
Working with people with dementia in music therapy is a major focus of the work of Nordoff & Robbins. This research project focusses on documenting and understanding the ‘ripple effect’ – the idea that music therapy ripples out to reach people not directly involved in the music therapy.
Researcher: Mary Brown (Glasgow Caledonian University)
Researchers: Tia DeNora and Gary Ansdell (Exeter University, UK), and Wolfgang Schmid (Bergen University, Norway). Major AHRC (UK) grant.
The aim of the project is to look very closely at what people in scenes of care do with music, and how they do it, and with what consequences for wellbeing, community, and most generally experience and action.
Lead researcher: Jo Humphreys
Homelessness is a damaging experience that can have a huge impact on people’s lives and their ability to thrive. This project seeks to explore the role that facilitated music making, including music therapy, might play in the collective effort to end homelessness, and the role Nordoff and Robbins could take in supporting this. Through detailed consideration of music therapy delivery in a homeless hostel, this project looks at how people experiencing homelessness engage with music making and how it might best support them.
Lead researchers: Dr Sara Ajina (UCLH), Rebecca Burns (Nordoff and Robbins)
UCLH is running a long-term randomised controlled trial exploring whether patients on a neurological rehabilitation ward show different functional outcomes if music therapy is included in their programme. Within this, Nordoff and Robbins is conducting a shorter-term qualitative sub-study into how patients experience music therapy in this environment, at a stressful phase of life. Particular consideration is being given to the broader repercussions of music therapy on the ward, to patients, carers and staff.