Creative Research Conversations

Lauren Stewart is a PhD candidate at Monash University and a recipient of the Monash Graduate Excellence Scholarship (MGES). Her doctoral research takes a holistic approach to the study of songwriting, exploring the technical, intrapersonal, and interpersonal factors that can enable or inhibit early-career songwriters’ development. She completed her Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Music degrees at Monash University in 2015, specializing in Popular Voice Studies at the Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music. This was followed by a Bachelor of Music (Honors) degree, which sparked her research interests in popular music, songwriting, and the creative process. Outside of her research pursuits, Lauren works as a singing teacher, a teaching associate, and a vocalist with a variety of bands and ensembles, including the Australian Army Band Corps (Melbourne). This year, she also worked as a music mentor for the ADF Arts for Recovery, Resilience, Teamwork and Skills (ADF ARRTS) program in Canberra.Links:Find out more about the Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music & Performance at Monash UniversityFollow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter!

Cassandra is a PhD candidate with the Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music and Performance at Monash University in Naarm, Australia. She has a bachelor’s degree in music performance with honours (awarded in 2020) through Monash University. Cassandra has also obtained a Bachelor in secondary education from the University of Canberra in 2015 and completed her Licentiate degree with distinction in classical flute performance from the Australian Music Examination Board in 2017.Links:Find out more about the Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music & Performance at Monash UniversityFollow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter

Today we’ll be joined by Miranda Park and our guest Professor Jonathan Wyatt. Jonathan is the Professor of Qualitative Inquiry and Director of the Centre for Creative-Relational Inquiry, at the University of Edinburgh in the UK.Jonathan trained as a counsellor, part-time, at the Isis Centre in Oxford and Oxford Brookes University. For ten years, he worked in the NHS as a counsellor in primary care and, until moving to Edinburgh in September 2013, ran a small private counselling and supervision practice. He originally worked as an English teacher, then subsequently in youth and community work, before moving into staff development and training.He completed his doctorate at Bristol in narrative and life story research in 2008. Jonathan is an accredited member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, and a member of the International Association of Qualitative Inquiry, the Narrative Inquiry Centre at Bristol and the Centre for Arts Therapies Research, Roehampton.We hope you enjoy this conversation with Miranda Park and Professor Jonathan Wyatt.Links:Find out more about the Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music & Performance at Monash UniversityFollow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter

Today we’ll be joined by Cassandra Gibson and our guest Dr Bryant Keith Alexander from Loyola Marymount University in the US.Dr Bryant Keith Alexander is dean of the LMU College of Communication and Fine Arts. He is professor of Communication, Performance and Cultural Studies. Alexander is an active scholar with a distinguished record of teaching, service, professional activity, and a regular performer and keynote speaker at universities and conferences around the US.We hope you enjoy this conversation with Cassandra Gibson and Dr Bryant Keith Alexander.Links:Find out more about the Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music & Performance at Monash UniversityFollow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter

Miranda Park is a PhD candidate, writer, musician and editor. Her doctoral research is an intersectional feminist, narrative examination of students’ and teachers’ experiences in Australian tertiary jazz institutions. This project involves fieldwork across three jazz courses in Australia, with the aim of understanding how individual and institutional practices and beliefs contribute to, or challenge, enduring inequalities in higher jazz education. Miranda is part of the ARC-funded project Diversifying Music in Australia: Gender Equity in Jazz and Improvisation at Monash University, which investigates the gendered practices of inclusion and exclusion in the Australian jazz and improvisation industry.Links:Find out more about the Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music & Performance at Monash UniversityFollow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter

In this special bonus episode, we'll be joining our head-of-school Professor Margaret Barrett in conversation with our host Professor Stacy Holman-Jones.Professor Margaret Barrett is a leading figure in Australian and international music education. She is currently professor and Head of the Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music and Performance at Monash University. She is currently Founding Director of the Pedagogies of Creativity, Collaboration, Expertise and Enterprise (or PoCCEE for short) research focus at Monash.Join Stacy and Margaret as they discuss the importance of creativity and collaboration in research!Links:Find out more about the Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music & Performance at Monash UniversityFollow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter!