Professor Maria Witek

• BA Musicology, University of Oslo (2006)
• MA Music Psychology, University of Sheffield (2008)
• DPhil Music, University of Oxford (2013)

I have worked and studied across music, psychology and cognitive science since finishing my undergraduate degree in musicology in Oslo. I completed an MA in Music Psychology at Sheffield University, and a doctorate in Music at the University of Oxford. Before coming to Birmingham, I was Assistant Professor at the Center for Music in the Brain, Aarhus University, Denmark.

• Introduction to Music Cognition
• Music and Emotion
• Music and Gender

I am interested in hearing from potential doctoral students wishing to study music cognition, psychology and philosophy of mind, especially (but not limited to) rhythm, timing, body-movement, emotion, disability and neurodivergence.

Find out more - our Music postgraduate study  page has information about doctoral research at the University of Birmingham.

The main interest of Dr Witek and her lab is in researching the psychology, cognitive neuroscience and cognitive philosophy of musical experience, with a focus on rhythm, timing, emotion and body-movement. Much of Dr Witek's work is centred on trying to understand how dance music experiences and practices emerge from interactions between embodied, neural, musical and social processes. She uses research methods from across experimental psychology, cognitive neuroscience, qualitative social psychology, digital music analysis and phenomenology. In 2022, she embarked on a research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, investigating Embodied Timing and Disability in DJ Practice. She is also a co-investigator on the Augmented Reality for Music Ensemble (ARME) project, which is testing a model of how music ensembles synchronise their playing to achieve a cohesive performance. The model will be used to develop a rehearsal system where musicians can practice with virtual ensembles that adapt their timing to the musician in real time.

I frequently act as scientific advisor for artists and composers working outside academia, who actively incorporate scientific aspects of music in their work.