Mark Rowles

Doctoral Student

Mark Rowles is a PhD candidate at the Royal College of Music. His qualitative project seeks to understand the role of music listening in the lives of individuals who experience psychosis, guided by two key research questions: (1) how might individuals who experience psychosis use self-chosen music listening to support wellbeing? And (2) how might music listening influence or alleviate psychotic symptoms. His project will also explore how these insights can inform health and care practices through interviews with mental health professionals.

Mark currently works as a Research Assistant for the SEDarc Doctoral Training Programme at the University of Kent and is based in Folkestone. He has also worked as a Research Assistant on the Musical Care in the Beginning of Life project. Mark recently attained an Advance HE Associate Fellowship in recognition of his work as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at the Royal College of Music.

Mark previously studied Audio and Music Production at Buckinghamshire New University, where he developed a particular interest in the psychology of music. This led him to pursue the Music, Mind & Brain MSc programme at Goldsmiths, University of London, before undertaking his PhD at the Royal College of Music. He is supervised by Prof. Rosie Perkins (RCM), Dr Neto Spiro (RCM), and Dr Stefan Rennick-Egglestone (University of Nottingham).

Publications

Spiro N, Sanfilippo KRM, Shaughnessy C, Rowles M, Coombes E, Perkins R, & Tredget E (2025), The landscape of musical care during the beginning of life in the United Kingdom: a mixed-methods survey study, BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies, 25 (380) [DOI].

Faculties / departments: Research