Music Therapy

Our research institute leads music therapy research for adults, older people, young people and children with a range of issues. We specialise in finding out what works clinically in music therapy and how it works, including which theoretical frameworks such as neurology, psychology, psychotherapy, psychoanalysis best inform the work.

Our innovative research involves outcome studies in a variety of settings, such as schools, health services, voluntary and the private sector, and we have many partnerships within these. Our research streams include music therapy and dementia, autism, end of life process, learning disability, mental health, children and families, addiction and stroke. Our Cambridge Institute for Music Therapy Research is based in a state-of-the-art music therapy centre, including a research laboratory where practical music therapy and music and brain research can be undertaken in purpose-built spaces.

Over 10 music therapy PhDs have been completed through us during the last few years, and our cohorts are growing. As a PhD student here you will be working alongside larger scale international projects on music therapy, and there is a rich programme of specialist lectures and PhD subject specific opportunities.

Our researchers are involved in public policy, and we regularly provide talks for parliament, keynotes around the world at international conferences, and research is linked to a working music therapy clinic in The Jerome Booth Music Therapy Centre. Three professors and two post-doctoral researchers are working on research into music and brain and improvisation EEG projects - music therapy for people in the local community with dementia and their carers, linked to local partners such as MHA care homes and Saffron Hall Trust. We also work closely with the Centre for Music and Science at Cambridge University.

Recent research projects

• Care Homes and Residential Music Therapy for Dementia (CHARMD) research network : A randomised controlled trial exploring the effects of a music therapy and communication protocol on agitation for people with dementia.
• Josef Ressel Centre - Personalised Music Therapy in Neurorehabilitation (2016-2021) – Project collaboration with Josef Ressel Research Centre (funded by the Austrian Christian Doppler Society) with Department of Health Sciences of IMC Krems. A project to identify: 1. right time periods for therapy based on chronobiological paradigms, 2. right moments in which therapy functions best for patients and 3. how empathy is mediated via endocrinological processes.
• Improvising brains: Investigating social interaction in music (therapy) of persons with and without dementia (2016-2018): A project financed by the Music Therapy Charity UK to explore hyperscanning approaches in music therapy process research and to describe neural dynamics of dyadic interaction in music
• Music therapy for people with strokes (2017-2018): A project funded by Addenbrookes Charitable Trust for a one-year trial of music therapy research on a ward for people with strokes at Addenbrookes Hospital.
• Together in Sound (2017 – ongoing): A music therapy research project for people with dementia and their carers within a community setting linked to a concert hall; in partnership with Saffron Hall Trust.
• TIME-A (2012 -2016) – a multicentre study lead by University of Bergen. The UK research branch was led by Professors Odell-Miller, Oldfield and Crawford. The Trial of Improvisational Music therapy’s Effectiveness for children with Autism (TIME-A) set out to be the first well-controlled effectiveness study and largest randomised controlled trial on non-pharmacological therapy for autism so far.