Heidi Westerlund

Heidi Westerlund is a professor at the Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki, Finland, where she is also responsible for music education doctoral studies. She has published widely in international journals and books and is the co-editor of Collaborative learning in higher music education (Ashgate, 2013/2016), Musiikkikasvattaja. Kohti reflektiivistä käytäntöä (PS, 2013), Music, Education, and Religion: Intersections and Entanglements (Indiana University Press, 2019), Visions for intercultural music teacher education (Springer, 2020), The Politics of Diversity in Music Education (Springer, 2021) and Expanding Professionalism in music and higher music education – A Changing Game (Routledge, 2021). She has served in several editorial boards and as the Editor-in-chief of the Finnish Journal of Music Education. Her research interests include higher arts education, music teacher education and professionalism in the arts, collaborative learning, cultural diversity, and democracy in music education. She is the Lead-PI of Music Education, Professionalism, and Eco-Politics (2021-2025) project, funded by the Academy of Finland. She acts as the Co-PI of Music for social impact: practitioners’ contexts, work, and beliefs, Arts and Humanities Research Council, UK (2020-2023), and she is one of the Finnish team members in the ERASMUS+ project, ”Rethinking Music Performance in European Higher Education Institutions” (REACT) (2020-2023).