Mollie is a PhD student at the University of Aberdeen where she is currently undertaking research into the life and legacy of ‘the last shantyman’, Stan Hugill. Mollie’s doctoral thesis is a collaborative project between the Music department and the Elphinstone Institute for the study of Ethnology, Folklore and Ethnomusicology, combining ethnographic fieldwork, oral history and archival study. Mollie’s wider interest in maritime history has led to her taking on advisory roles at maritime music events and festivals, as well as being commissioned to create audio guides for classic works of nautical literature, including the behemoth that is Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. Mollie is an editor on the Granite postgraduate journal at the University of Aberdeen and is currently undertaking both a research internship on ethics in practice research entitled ‘A Scoping Project – Ethical Engagements in Creative Practice Research and Teaching’, as well as a research internship with Aberdeen City Council looking at chattel slavery in relation to specific locations in Aberdeenshire. Alongside her studies, Mollie also works as a performer of maritime music, composer and transcriber, recently publishing a book of sea shanties for the penny whistle.

Maya Ann Morris is a conductor, arranger, educator and pianist based in South Wales. She is a first-year PhD Music student at Cardiff University, undertaking research into the pianism and pedagogy of Alfred Cortot (1877–1962), funded through a Cardiff University Studentship award. Her project is supervised by Dr. Caroline Rae and Dr. Rachel Moore. She completed both her BA and MA degrees in Music at Cardiff University and was awarded the John Morgan Lloyd prize for meritorious final-year students at the end of her undergraduate degree. Alongside her research, Maya is an active conductor and pianist within her local community, holding the position of Musical Director at Bargoed Male Voice Choir since the beginning of 2022.

Sebastian Bank Jørgensen is a PhD Musicology student at Northumbria University where he is researching German modal theory in the 16^th century, specifically focusing on the term repercussio and examining the cultural, historical, and paratextual contexts surrounding its creation and dissemination. He studied a BA and MA in Musicology with a minor in English at the University of Copenhagen, where he graduated with distinction with his thesis on traditions of modal theory from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. His research interests mostly lie within medieval and Early Modern history and music theory/analysis, but his wider music interests include hip-hop history, extreme metal, and the Arabic oud.

Niki Zohdi is a composer, tenor and conductor born in Blackburn, England. He completed his music undergraduate degree and composition master’s degree at Goldsmiths under the tutelage of Roger Redgate. Niki is currently a practice-led PhD researcher in composition at the University of Leeds supervised by Mic Spencer and Martin Iddon, exploring collision and proximity in his music. He has also received tuition in composition from Chaya Czernowin. His music has been performed, workshopped and recorded in the UK, Europe and Israel by the Ligeti string quartet, Carlos Cordeiro, and Seth Josel amongst others. As well as being a composer, Niki is an active tenor both as a soloist and in professional choirs throughout Lancashire and Yorkshire. He is also on the editorial boards of Leeds Postgraduate Review and CePRA Journal.

Nicholas is a doctoral candidate at the University of Cambridge where his research focuses on critic-composer Valentina Serova (1846–1924) and, more broadly, on women and music in nineteenth-century Russia. His wider research interests include musical nationalism, biography, music criticism, and music in Singapore. He is co-presenter of Crafting Musical Lives, a six-episode podcast which explores the life-writing process of musical figures. Nicholas was involved with the AHRC-funded Midlands Music Research Network (MMRN) as Communications Officer and Podcast Organiser where he hosted the flagship podcast Midlands Music Musings. His music-making experience includes his previous service as a military musician in the Singapore Armed Forces Band and as a current choral scholar in the Choir of Clare College Cambridge.

Yajie is a London-based conductor and researcher currently pursuing a PhD at King’s College London, supervised by Dr Amy Blier-Carruthers. Her practice-based research delves into conducting strategies within recording production, integrating ethnographic fieldwork. She is interested in group creativity and distributed leadership functions in contemporary music- making related to the recording industry. She studied an MPhil at University of Glasgow, supervised by Professor John Butt, and a BMus in composition and vocal performance at Cardiff University. As a conductor, Yajie held the conducting fellow position at Cortona Sessions for New Music in Italy. Her leadership extends to roles as a musical director for ensembles like Cardiff University Bella Cantas and South China Normal University College of Arts Choir. As the co-founder of the Pavilion Ensemble, Yajie spearheads interdisciplinary and educational composition projects with young music professionals. Yajie’s versatility extends to her role as a Mezzo-Soprano, having received the Lanfine Choral Exhibitioner Scholarship from the University of Glasgow Chapel Choir and the Young Singers Choral Scholarship from the London Oriana Choir. Additionally, she served as an editor at eSharp Journal.

Maureen works closely with students who wish to organise RMA-supported study days to develop ideas and plan events. (mwolloshin1@gmail.com)

Dan Elphick is a Lecturer in Musicology at Royal Holloway, University of London. His research and teaching focus on questions of music and politics from the 19th-century to the present, with a particular focus on music of Russia, the Soviet Union, and Poland, as well as issues of music analysis and its role alongside musicology. Dan is a member of the Centre for Russian Music at Goldsmiths, University of London, and sits on the Editorial Board for DSCH, the Shostakovich journal. Dan’s first book, Music Behind the Iron Curtain: Weinberg and his Polish Contemporaries is available from Cambridge University Press. Alongside his research, Dan is passionate about music education at all levels from pre-school to postgraduate research, and has worked with groups including the SMA and RMA on their education and outreach projects. (communications@rma.ac..uk)