About Us

PhD Studentship in Performance Science

Centre for Performance Science, Royal College of Music 

Understanding motivation and practice quality in music training  

A PhD studentship is available from September 2015 for a candidate to undertake research as part of an international collaborative project funded by the Australian Research Council.

The project will examine how motivation and practice quality impact on musicians' performance, persistence, learning, creativity and wellbeing. Drawing on theoretical frameworks of Self-Determination Theory and Self-Regulated Learning, the PhD studentship will offer the opportunity to research factors that can inform future directions in professional music training. Based at the Royal College of Music, the PhD student will work within a large international team, drawn from the University of Melbourne (Australia), University of New South Wales (Australia), University of Rochester (USA), City University of New York (USA) and Indiana University (USA).

The PhD student will conduct and report research including (1) mixed-methods quantitative and qualitative investigations of motivation and practice and (2) the contexts and environments in which musicians train.

The value of the studentship will be full-time (UK/EU) tuition fees per annum. The successful candidate will be expected to complete the research within three years.

For more information about the Centre for Performance Science (CPS), see www.rcm.ac.uk/cps 

For further details about the studentship contact Aaron Williamon, Professor of Performance Science, at aaron.williamon@rcm.ac.uk.

The deadline for applications is 29 May and interviews will be held on Thursday 4 June.

Please apply using the application form.