I am a certified music therapist and clinical and health psychologist, working in a 50% position at GAMUT – The Grieg Academy Music Therapy Research Centre, a twin centre regulated by an agreement of collaboration between the University of Bergen and NORCE Research AS. I also work as a clinical music therapist in an acute psychiatric hospital department in Hollabrunn, Austria.
My key qualifications are in research on the effectiveness and
applicability of music interventions in mental health, and on
determinants of mental health and well-being in children and adults.
I have expertise and experience in leading international research groups, and my work has been published in international journals within and beyond the music therapy field, including the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. I currently serve as Managing Editor of the Nordic Journal of Music Therapy.
I received my PhD from the Doctoral Programme in Music Therapy, Aalborg University, Denmark, in 2015. With a broad academic background (Master level qualifications in psychology, music therapy, and linguistics, as well as an academic study in interdisciplinary communication) and extensive clinical expertise in the fields of adult mental health and autism spectrum conditions, I am especially interested in interdisciplinary research, and more recently also in participatory approaches and user engagement in research.
Current projects I am involved in:
- FALCO: Fighting Addictions, improving Lives: COmprehensive drug rehabilitation with music (Cordis; NCT07028983); role: Scientific co-coordinator
- Memory for Music: Effects of individual intensive musical training based on singing in non-musicians with Alzheimer’s disease (NCT06611878); role: Project coordinator
Completed projects I was involved in:
- MIDDEL: Music interventions for dementia and depression in elderly care home residents (NCT03496675); role: Project coordinator
- TIME-A: Trial of Improvisational Music therapy's Effectiveness for Autism (ISRCTN11618310); roles: Project coordinator, site manager for Austria
- Cochrane reviews of music therapy in autism and schizophrenia
