Tom Parkinson

Dr Tom Parkinson is Head of Doctoral Programmes at the RNCM. With a background in music, languages and education, Tom’s work has focused on popular music education (PME),Turkish popular music, music education in Turkey, and higher education and forced displacement.  Common preoccupations across much of Tom’s work are disparities in access to opportunity and resources in higher education, and the relationship between higher education, society, the individual and the state. 

 As PI, Tom has led research projects funded by the British Academy, the AHRC, the GCRF and Arts Council England.

Tom is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and has served as an external examiner or expert validator at institutions including University College London (UCL), Queen’s University Belfast (QUB), Bath Spa University, The University of Chichester and KM Conservatory, Chennai. He chairs the Academic Development steering group for the Council for At Risk Academics’ (Cara) Syria Programme, which supports Syrian academics in continuing their academic work in exile.

Tom is always interested in exploring interdisciplinary synergies and keen to collaborate with like-minded colleagues from across the disciplinary spectrum.

• Popular music education
• Popular music practice (songwriting, production, performance)
• Music and language learning
• Higher education in conflict, post-conflict and refugee contexts
• Internationalisation of higher education and music education
• Historical study of Turkish music education