Professor Susan Hallam MBE
BA MSc PhD LRAM Cert Ed CPsychol, AFBPsS FRSA AcSS
Dr Susan Hallam is Emerita Professor of Education and Music Psychology at the UCL Institute of Education. She was awarded an MBE in the 2015 new year’s honours list. She pursued careers as both a professional musician and a music educator before joining the Institute of Education, University of London in 1991. She joined Oxford Brookes as Professor of Education in January 2000 returning to the Institute of Education in January 2001. She has received research funding from the ESRC, DfE, the ScottishExecutive, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Nuffield Foundation, Performing Rights Society, the Christian Initiative Trust, CfBT, the Ministry of Defence, 4Children, EMI Sound Foundation, the Institute of Physics, SkillForce and several Local Authorities for a range of projects relating to attendance at school, exclusion from school, behaviour improvement, school-home links, ability grouping in primary and secondary schools, formative feedback in learning, instrumental music services and the evaluation of various educational initiatives. In addition she has undertaken research in relation to pedagogy in secondary and higher education, text understanding and conceptions of argument of post-graduate students, homework, learning in music and the effects of music on behaviour and studying.
She is the author of numerous books on education including Here Today, Here Tomorrow: Helping Schools to Promote Attendance (1995)(with Roaf, C); Improving School Attendance (1996); Ability Grouping in Education (2001) (with Ireson, J); Ability Grouping in Schools: a Literature Review (2002); Effective Pupil Grouping in the Primary School – a Practical Guide (2002) (with Ireson, J & Davies, J); Homework: the evidence (2004); and Improving behaviour and attendance at school (2008)(with Rogers, L). She has also published several books in relation to music education and music psychology including Instrumental Teaching: A Practical Guide to Better Teaching and Learning (1998), The Power of Music (2001) Music Psychology in Education (2005); Preparing for success: a practical guide for young musicians (2012 (with Gaunt, H); Active ageing with music: Supporting well-being in the Third and Fourth Ages (2014) (with Creech, A., McQueen, H and Varvarigou, M) and The impact of actively making music on the intellectual, social and personal development of children and young people: A research synthesis. She is editor of The Oxford Handbook of Psychology of Music (2009, 2016) (with Cross, I & Thaut, M) and Music Education in the 21st Century in the United Kingdom: Achievements, analysis and aspirations (2010) (with Creech, A). In addition, she has over 200 other publications. She is a former Chair of the Education Section of the British Psychological Society, former treasurer of the British Educational Research Association, a former Institutional Auditor for the QAA and has recently stepped down from the position of Dean of the Faculty of Policy and Society. She has been awarded lifelong membership of the British Psychological Society (for services to psychology) and of the International Society for Music Education (for service to music education). She has acted as consultant and advisor to numerous projects relating to research and practice for a wide range of bodies, public and private. She was editor of Psychology of Education Review from 1996-99, Learning Matters from 1997-2002, the Psychology of Music from 2001-2008 and is currently co-editor of Music Performance Research.