The Artist and Academia

Helen Phelan is Professor of Arts Practice at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick, Ireland. She is an Irish Research Council recipient for her work on singing and migration. Her book, Singing the Rite to Belong: Music, Ritual and the New Irish, was published by Oxford University Press in 2017. She is co-founder of the female vocal ensemble Cantoral, specializing in Irish medieval chant; founder of the Singing and Social Inclusion research group; and IMBAS, a support network for artistic research in Ireland. Her most recent Health Research Institute funded project explores the use of arts-based methods in migrant health research.

Graham F. Welch has held the Established Chair of Music Education at UCL Institute of Education (formerly University of London) since 2001. He is a Past President of the International Society for Music Education (ISME) (2008-2014) and elected Chair of the Society for Education, Music and Psychology Research (SEMPRE). He holds Visiting Professorships at universities in the United Kingdom and overseas, and is a former member of the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Review College for Music (2007-2015).