Attending the IAMM & ISfAM Joint Congress

Funded by Sempre Conference Awards

Title: Attending the 2024 IAMM & ISfAM Joint Congress in Berlin, Germany to present research on the Leeds-based charity ‘Made with Music‘

Recipient: Sarah Hambly

Date: September 2024

I would like to express my gratitude for the generous Conference Award granted in September 2024 to attend the joint congress of the International Association for Music and Medicine (IAMM) and the International Society for Arts and Medicine (ISfAM) in Berlin, Germany. The conference, travel, and accommodation fees would not have been possible without this funding.

Attending the conference was an incredibly valuable experience for me. As a current PhD candidate with a background in music psychology, I was encouraged to see the volume and impact of research being carried out across multiple music and healthcare settings, and even more so having the opportunity to meet with such researchers and hear about their experiences of conducting the research. Additionally, I presented a poster on behalf of Made with Music, a charity I have had the privilege of working with as a research assistant, on the family choir they run for the families of those affected by perinatal mental health challenges. Having seen the choir in action and conducting the evaluation alongside this, attending the IAMM & ISfAM congress in person to share the poster and further insights with colleagues was invaluable. I remain grateful for the opportunities I had to connect with researchers, practitioners, healthcare workers, and musicians and to discuss how similar projects could be carried out in other locations to benefit others experiencing perinatal mental health challenges.

Returning home, I have continued conversations with researchers I had the privilege of meeting, including those in my field of current study (music and disability), and others who share my broader interests. IAMM & ISfAM 2024 has been a highlight of my year and academic career thus far, and I look forward to where the connections I have made will take me. My sincere thanks, once again, for financially supporting my attendance at this event.