Maria is a musician and music educator, currently coordinating the Masters in Educational Leadership and Management at Mary Immaculate College (MIC), Ireland. Her research expertise spans international and UK-funded projects, focusing on the impact of music-making on pedagogy, professional development, and health and wellbeing across the lifecourse. Her work fosters connections between higher education, professional (music) education, and community involvement.
From 2020 to 2024, Maria served as Area Coordinator for Music Education at MIC, providing strategic leadership in curriculum development and music pedagogy. Prior to this, she was a Senior Lecturer in Music at Canterbury Christ Church University, UK. During her tenure there, she mentored staff for Associate Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (2018) and held key administrative roles, including Director of International Exchange Programmes and Erasmus for the Schools of Arts and Humanities (2017–2018), and Study Abroad Coordinator (2014–2016).
Maria developed ‘sensory musicking,’ an innovative and inclusive pedagogical approach that promotes music-making and learning in primary schools and community settings. Her current research focuses on inclusive music pedagogies and their applications across diverse learning environments. She has co-authored two books: Active Ageing with Music: Supporting Wellbeing in the Third and Fourth Ages (2014), published by the Institute of Education University Press, and Contexts for Music Learning and Participation: Developing and Sustaining Musical Possible Selves Through Informal, Non-Formal and Formal Practices (2020), published by Palgrave.
special interests
Music for health and wellbeing; intergenerational music-making; ear-playing and performance practices of vernacular music; teaching and learning in higher and professional education.
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