Dr. Ayman Agbaria is a scholar, poet, playwright, and activist. Currently, he the Head of the M.A Program in Education, Society and Culture at the University of Haifa, Faculty Member at the Mandel School of Educational Leadership, and Honorary Senior Research Associate at the Centre for Research and Evaluation in Muslim Education at the UCL Institute of Education in London. Previously, he held senior positions at the Israel Association of Community Centers, the New Israel Fund’s Shatil organization, Beit Berl College, The Follow-Up Committee on Arab Education, and The Arab Center for Law and Policy – Dirasat. He also holds a dual doctoral degree (Ph.D)- in educational theory and policy, and in international and comparative education- from Pennsylvania State University. In addition, he completed his post-doctoral studies at Cambridge University. He specializes in education amongst ethnic and religious minorities. Additionally, he is a widely anthologized poet and playwright. His poems have been translated into several languages and four of his plays have been staged.
Dr. Alon Schab, School fo the Arts, Department of Music, University of Haifa: musicologist, composer and recorder player. Since 2012 Alon is a faculty member in the Department of Music in the University of Haifa. In 2016 he became a committee member of the Purcell Society. He is currently the secretary of the Israeli Musicological Society. His book The Sonatas of Henry Purcell: Rhetoric and Reversal (University of Rochester Press) was published last June. Alon researches early music history and performance, Jewish music of the 19th century, music under the British Mandate, and progressive rock.
Heidi Westerlund is professor at the Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki, Finland. She has published widely in international journals and books and she is the co-editor of Collaborative learning in higher music education as well as the Editor-in-chief of the Finnish Journal of Music Education. Her research interests include higher arts education, music teacher education, collaborative learning, cultural diversity and democracy in music education. She is currently leading two research projects funded by the Academy of Finland: The arts as public service: Strategic steps towards equality (2015-2020) and Global visions through mobilizing networks: Co-developing intercultural music teacher education in Finland, Israel and Nepal (2015-2019).
Kjetil A. Bjørgan/NMH
Sidsel Karlsen is professor of music education at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, and also docent at the Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki, Finland. She has published widely in international research journals and is a frequent contributor to international anthologies and handbooks. Her research interests include cultural diversity in music education, intercultural music teacher education, the social dynamics of musical upbringing and schooling, as well as the interplay between formal and informal arenas for music learning. Currently, Sidsel is one out of two PIs of the research project Global visions through mobilizing networks: Co-developing intercultural music teacher education in Finland, Israel and Nepal (funded by the Academy of Finland 2015-2019). She is also part of the project The social dynamics of musical upbringing and schooling in the Norwegian welfare state (funded by the Research Council of Norway 2018-2022).
