The Music and Parental Wellbeing Research Network is the first of its kind to foster novel, international, and interdisciplinary collaborations to explore the role of music in supporting parental wellbeing.
Led by the RCM’s Centre for Performance Science, the Network recognises that parental wellbeing is suffering in the UK and beyond, exacerbated by factors such as health inequalities, austerity, and COVID-19. While there is already evidence that music can support wellbeing, including for parents, there is work required to diversify and extend the knowledge base, and to bridge a translational gap between practice and research, on the one hand, and policy and long-lasting implementation, on the other.
This Network will collaboratively address this agenda, focusing on three key questions: What musical practices could be used to support parents in a wide range of contexts? How can music practitioners working in this area be supported and cared for? How can music be implemented as a sustainable part of parental wellbeing practices and policies? The complexity of these questions and who they involve necessitates the need for a collaborative approach, bringing together people working at the intersection of music and parental wellbeing, to work across and between disciplinary and conceptual boundaries.
Network activities will include a series of online and hybrid events over 2024 and 2025. Network activities will be shared through a series of short films, a resource bank sharing exemplars of work, and an agenda article and accompanying policy briefing that lays out progress to date and the key questions and policy implications needed to advance the field. The Network leads, Professor Rosie Perkins and Dr Katie Rose Sanfilippo aim to develop the Network into a new Alliance for Music and Parental Wellbeing that will raise awareness, facilitate ongoing collaborations, and host network outputs.
To find out more or to join the network, please contact Debi Graham.
