Ugne Peistaraite

Doctoral Student

Ugne is a part-time PhD candidate and graduate teaching assistant at the Centre for Performance Science, Royal College of Music (RCM), where she is investigating the role of emotional intelligence for musicians under the supervision of Prof Aaron Williamon, Prof Rosie Perkins and Dr George Waddell. Alongside, Ugne gives lectures and workshops at the RCM, Imperial College London, Bath SPA University and other various masterclasses and educational events for musicians. Ugne is an RCM Studentship holder as well as the State Studies Foundation of Lithuania ‘Kitas 100’ grant and stipend awardee.

In 2018, Ugne graduated with a distinction from the Master of Science in Performance Science at the RCM (partly supported by Vilnius Perkunas Rotary Club), where she investigated the relationship between emotion regulation processes and self-regulated learning in musicians. The significant findings were presented at the International Symposium for Performance Science 2019 in Melbourne and published in Frontiers in Psychology. In addition, in 2019 Ugne was awarded a grant in a six-month MedTech SuperConnector project run by Imperial College London, which provided support for early career academic researchers to develop and realise entrepreneurial ideas.

Having studied classical piano performance and pedagogy at the Lithuanian Music and Theatre Academy (LMTA), Ugne is also a collaborative pianist and educator. Ugne is a laureate of several international music competitions and has had masterclasses with internationally renowned pianists, such as Christopher Elton, Eugen Indjic, Angela Hewitt. During the Erasmus Exchange programme, Ugne studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. As a chamber musician, Ugne co-founded the piano trio ‘Colors’ which in 2015 for their achievements was awarded the Merit Diploma by Lithuanian Republic President Dalia Grybauskaite. As an educator, Ugne taught and accompanied at the Lisbon Superior School of Music in Portugal, the Braganca Music and Dance Conservatory, and the annual Adult Summer Music Academy held at the LMTA.

Publications

Peistaraite U & Clark T (2020), Emotion regulation processes can benefit self-regulated learning in classical musicians, Frontiers in Psychology, 11 (568760) [DOI].

Faculties / departments: Research