HONG KONG TALK: MUSIC AND WELLBEING

Alumni in Hong Kong learnt how music can impact your wellbeing at a talk by Professor Daniel Grimley, Head of Humanities and Tutorial Fellow in Music at Merton College.

How important is music to your health and wellbeing? Does music education benefit children? Do you really know ‘how to listen?’ Drawing on recent research, Professor Grimley shared insights about the importance of music in children’s intellectual and emotional development and the mental health benefits music confers in adulthood. Attendees learnt how truly listening can make a difference in your life and heard practical interventions for how music can support your daily wellbeing.

Professor Grimley has spoken widely at conferences in the USA, Australia, Canada and Europe. His research is principally concerned with the analysis of music and landscape, with particular reference to Scandinavian music (Grieg, Sibelius and Nielsen) and early twentieth-century English music (including Elgar and Vaughan Williams). Professor Grimley previously taught at the Universities of Surrey (2000-2002) and Nottingham (2002-9), before which he was Centenary Research Fellow at Selwyn College, Cambridge.

Professor Grimley is overseeing the development of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities. Situated at the heart of Oxford, the 25,000m² Schwarzman Centre will serve as a new home for Oxford’s humanities, providing state-of-the-art academic, exhibition and performance spaces. For the first time, seven humanities faculties will be housed together with a new Humanities Library. At its core, the Centre boasts a 500-seat concert hall and will also house Oxford’s new Institute for Ethics in AI. Together, these facilities will enrich Oxford’s cultural landscape and foster interdisciplinary collaboration. Construction on the building is well underway and it will open in 2025.