Margaret S. Barrett is Professor and Head of the Sir Zelman Cohen School of Music and Performance at Monash University. She has held national and international leadership positions in music education including ISME President (2012 - 2014), Chair of the World Alliance for Arts Education (2013 - 2015), and Chair of the Asia-Pacific Symposium for Music Education (2009 - 2011). Her research funded by the Australian Research Council explores music early learning and development, artistic citizenship, creative health, pedagogies of creativity, expertise, and creative collaboration, and, musician and teacher professional learning. Recent awards include a Fulbright Senior Research Fellowship (2018), a Beaufort Visiting Professorship at St Johns' College, Cambridge (2019), and a Foundation des Sciences de L'Homme Fellowship (2019), and the Albi Rosenthal Fellowship in Musicology at the Bodleian Library, Oxford (2023). Recent publications include the Oxford Handbook of Early Learningand Development in Music (2023).

Heidi Westerlund is Professor at the Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki, Finland. Her research interests include higher arts education, music teacher education, collaborative learning, cultural diversity and democracy in music education. She has published widely in international journals and books and is the Editor-in-chief of the Finnish Journal of Music Education. She has led significant research projects involving over 100 researchers: ArtsEqual - The arts as public service: Strategic steps towards equality (2015-2021) and Global visions through mobilizing networks: Co-developing intercultural music teacher education in Finland, Israel and Nepal (2015-2020). She is currently the lead-PI of Music Education, Professionalism, and Eco-Politics (EcoPolitics, 2021-2025).