Conference Schedule

Wednesday, 16 September 2026

19:00 – 21:30 | Conference Dinner (Speakers Only)

Thursday, 17 September 2026 (Day 1)

08:45 – 09:15 | Registration & Coffee

09:15 – 09:30 | Opening Remarks

09:30 – 11:00 | Bridging Worlds Through Singing:

• Jacqueline Leary-Warsaw; Voicing the Threshold: Singing as a Bridge Between Embodiment and Transcendence.

• David Camlin; Group Singing and Civic Imagination

• Regina Seiwald; Embodied Soundscapes: The Localising Power of Singing in Digital Gameworlds

11:00 – 11:30 | Coffee

11:30 – 13:00 | Practice and Pedagogy

• Jonathan Arnold; Just Singing: The social and spiritual benefits of singing in the work of the Social Justice Network and other charitable initiatives

• Daisy Widdicombe; The Uses and Impact of Music in Chaplaincy: Singing, Spirituality, and ‘Specialism’

• Katherine Zeserson (IRL) & Guiliana Frozoni (online); Singing as a Bridge Between Materiality and Spirituality: A Pedagogical Perspective

13:00 – 14:00 | Lunch (provided)

14:00 – 15:30 | Rituals and Truth

• Hamid Lea; The Distinctive Contribution of the Boudchichi Samāʿ: A Psychospiritual Modality within Contemporary Sufi Practice

• Theresa White; "Sacred Voices, Sacred Senses: A Theoretical Exploration of the Multisensory Nature of Liturgical Singing"

• Richard Cheetham; Learning to sing, meaning making and searching for truth

 15:30 – 17:00 | Beauty and Being  

• Adinda van’t Klooster; How voice-responsive VR interfaces can improve wellbeing

• June Boyce-Tillan; Singing the Beauty of Holiness

• Michael Glover; Entering the Mystery of Salvation through Sacred Music: Memory, Participation and Invitation

17:00 – 18:00 | Canapé Reception – Lapworth Museum

18:00 – 19:00 | Break / travel time

19:00 – 20:00 | Can Beauty Save the World? Performance-based Research Event – Ex Cathedra, St George’s Church
Please note this event is free for those attending the conference. For those not registered for the conference such as family and friends please book on this box office link.

Friday, 18 September 2026 (Day 2)

08:45 – 09:00 | Coffee

09:00– 10:30 | Music and Christian Theology

• Daniele Sabaino; From “sacred” to “ritual” music: the paradigm shifts between music and liturgy in the Catholic Church after the Second Vatican Council

• Gareth Wilson; Music & Monotheism

• Vedran Obucina (online); The Reformation Debate on Singing: Theology, Power, and the Human Voice

10:30 – 11:00 | Coffee

11:00 – 13:00 | Singing as Human Flourishing

• Kate Fawcett; Holding our breath: reaching towards an embodied understanding of spirituality in palliative music therapy and sacred performance contexts

• Kat Branch; Sing for Happiness Project: Can adults who believe they 'can't sing' benefit from group singing?

• Jasmine Smales; Can Compassion Change the Score? Psychoeducation in Community Music Settings

• Kay Norton; Beauty Is the Only Reason the World Is as Tolerable as It Is

13:00 – 14:00 | Lunch (provided)

14:00 – 15:30 | What is Song?:

• Chae-Lin Kim; Singing in sign language. A case study of the Berlin sign choir.

• Holly Winter-Hughes; The Architecture of Song: Wordlessness, Space, and Embodied Memory

• Sarah Moerman; When Singing Remembers: Meaning-Making Through Borrowed Songs

15:30 – 17:00 | Singing is Social:

• Damaris Ngoru; Singing Politics?: The Functions of Popular Gospel Music in Kenya’s Presidential Elections.

• Peter Sorensen; Singing in the Nahua World: Music and Indigenous Local Identities in Sixteenth-Century Mexico City

• Monique Ingalls; Singing Beyond Belief: Conceptual Tools and Cross-Purpose Conversations for Research on Spirituality and Singing

17:00 – 17:15 | Closing Remarks