IASPM UK & Ireland Postgraduate Conference
Posted: March 28th, 2025 | Filed under: Calls for Papers, IASPM Conferences | Comments Off on IASPM UK & Ireland Postgraduate ConferencePopular Music and Crisis
University of Leeds – 4/5 of September 2025
The UK and Ireland Branch of IASPM is delighted to announce the return of the postgraduate conference hosted this year by the University of Leeds. The postgraduate conference offers a chance for PGR/PGT students to share their work in a friendly positive environment and gain feedback on ideas and arguments. These might include a PhD chapter, an overview of research thesis or other work in progress. Postgraduate contributions will be accompanied by a series of workshops to develop insights into publishing and to explore career progression both inside and outside of academia.
The conference is open to all postgraduate students studying within (or creating work that supports) the field of popular music studies, and the proposed theme for 2025 is Popular Music and Crisis. All those submitting abstracts must be current MA, MRes or PhD researchers. Submissions are not limited by author location; however, all those accepted to present must already be or willing to become IASPM members in time for the conference. There will be no conference fee.
The theme of Popular Music and Crisis has been chosen to recognise how issues affecting the fields of music, music education, the music industry fit within wider global and environmental challenges.
The landscape of the ‘world-leading’ live music industry in the UK and Ireland has suffered a ‘seismic shift’ in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and Brexit. The governmental restrictions of lockdown imposed at the start of the decade, continue to have long lasting repercussions for grass-roots music venues and independent musicians, and whilst mediated and virtual spaces have attempted to accommodate the demand for collective musical experience, fans and subcultures continue to feel the effects of venue and club closures and the rising cost of living.
For creatives, the combined threats of artificial intelligence, machine learning and deep-fake technologies raises enormous concerns about copyright and intellectual property laws, and whilst online presence is more valuable and necessary than ever for emerging musicians, streaming platforms emphasise ease of content creation over the skill and experience of music making. As one thousand British musicians release the silent protest album, ‘Is This What We Want?’ aimed squarely at the UK Government’s continued consultation on the use of AI, the same technology is responsible for The Beatles’ 2025 Grammy win for ‘Best Rock Performance’, more than forty years after John Lennon’s passing. We welcome papers that seek to explore and define the ever-evolving impact of technology on the music industry above and beyond binary oppositional understanding.
The financial constraints thrust upon fan communities and musicians alike have highlighted long-standing disparities in intersectional accessibility to the creative industries. Those from working class backgrounds, particularly minority ethnic groups and individuals with disabilities continue to find themselves marginalised in the music industry, most acutely in decision making roles. Young people in these communities are additionally likely to feel the effects of ongoing cuts to music education and provisions in schools and local authorities.
Of course, the reach of austerity does not stop with schools, and we must also consider the recent proposals to close long-established music departments at institutions such as Cardiff University, soon after closures at Oxford Brookes, Kent, and Wolverhampton Universities, amongst others, alongside the very recent withdrawal of funding for National Youth Music programmes by the Department of Education.
Our use of these terms is intended to encourage discussion around how, where and when we situate our work in the broad discipline (and multiple sub-disciplines) of popular music studies as we understand it here and now as well as then and there.
We would be interested in seeing proposals that address the following themes, but this is by no means exhaustive, and proposals that address ‘Popular Music and Crisis’ however understood, are welcome.
- Music and Streaming
- AI Performance and Technology
- Club Closures and the Struggles of the Independent Music Venue
- The Historical or Cycles of Crises in Popular Music – a Musical Repetition?
- Mental health and/or its Relationship with Touring
- Digital Subcultures, Online Fandoms and Communities.
- Post-Covid Academia – Pedagogical Challenges, Funding and Immigration
- Popular Music in Relation to Class, Diversity and LGBTQ+ Identities
- The Cost of Living Crisis and its Effect on Independent Musicians
- Music in Relation to the Rise of Populism and the Far Right
- Climate Change and Sustainability
Those who are considering a submission to this CfP, whose work does not directly relate to the theme of Popular Music and Crisis, are still welcome to consider something tangential to their own research area. They may want to consider how their own work or interests relate to one or more of these issues, or about how these issues may have an impact on future aspirations as a musician, industry professional, researcher or academic.
Submissions will only be accepted from current postgraduate students. We will accept submissions for 20 minute papers, Panels with a maximum of 4 papers, short lightning talks (5-10 mins.), musical performances or practice-based workshops.
Please email your contributions to [email protected] by 9th of May 2025
Submissions must include:
- a proposed title
- an abstract/summary of your presentation/performance/workshop in no more than 250 words
- a short biography of no more than 50 words
- For panel proposals, please submit a thematic summary and abstracts for the individual papers of no more than 600 words in total, plus short biographies (50 words or less) for each presenter.
University of Leeds Conference Organising Committee: Lou Aimes-Hill (IASPM PGR Rep), Dr Sam Murray (IASPM ECR Rep), Dr Stan Erraught, Jingyi Bai, Rhun Gwilym, Jack Pyatt, Richard Smith, Yuwei Wang, Zhengtong Zhang
IASPM UK & Ireland Committee: Dr Caroline O’Sullivan (Chair), Dr Ivan Mouraviev (Membership), Dr Liz Pipe (Treasurer), Dr Neil O’Connor (Ireland Representative), Prof Simon Zagorski-Thomas (Member-at-large), Dr Simon Barber (Webmaster).