This symposium brings together research, practice, and policy perspectives on the role of music and music therapy in advancing health and wellbeing, featuring two keynote presentations by Associate Professor Dr Alison Short.
Drawing on Dr Short’s extensive international experience, the symposium highlights music therapy as an evidence-based creative arts discipline with meaningful contributions to community, clinical and public health contexts. Through discussion of research-informed practice, interprofessional collaboration, and the Music, Health and Wellbeing Continuum, the symposium explores how music and music therapy can:
- Influence health behaviours
- Inform policy development
- Strengthen health systems
The symposium also provides a platform for regional dialogue and collaboration, supporting the continued growth of music therapy practice, research, and policy in Singapore and across Southeast Asia.
Assoc Prof Dr Alison Short is an internationally respected music therapy educator and a pioneering leader in the development of the profession in Australia. A former president of the Australian Music Therapy Association, she has played a key role in shaping national professional standards, leadership and sector development.
Her expertise spans health services research, publication and mentoring, as well as translational research across complex health, community and policy contexts. In her role as industry engagement advisor at Western Sydney University, she works at the intersection of academia, practice and policy.
As a member of the World Federation of Music Therapy Council, Dr Short brings valuable global perspectives that strengthen research capacity, professional identity and system-level impact in music therapy. Her appointment as artist in residence offers a unique opportunity for participants and MA Music Therapy students at LASALLE to engage with internationally informed scholarship, leadership and reflective practice.
This keynote explores the role of public health in connecting with everyday experiences and health needs in the community. Drawing from experiences in Australia, this keynote puts forward professional music therapy as an evidence based creative arts discipline supporting public health initiatives, where targeted applications have the potential to influence motivations, behaviours and experiences for increased health benefits.
This presentation broadly outlines the nature of music in society and identifies many roles and applications of music in light of the Music, Health and Wellbeing Continuum (Short & MacRitchie, 2023). Examples of health and clinical initiatives supported by research change are outlined in relation the continuum model. In turn, this sharing of Australia’s experience offers insights into the value of working together interprofessionally to foster the use of music therapy in Singapore and to collaboratively promote the development of music therapy even more broadly including across the Southeast Asian region.
This keynote outlines the nature and role of research within health and health promotion, particularly focusing on applied research into music and music therapy. It explores the nature of both clinical and research evidence within a range of research paradigms, addressing how such evidence may be derived and used to influence public policy.
Multiple examples are provided of current and recent music and music therapy projects, indicating the flow-on impacts of this new evidence. Opportunities for interprofessional health research are outlined, where broader collaborative multi-phased mixed method approaches promise quality research to enhance policy and practice into the future extending from Australia into Singapore and the Southeast Asian region.
