Advisory Board

Helen Odell-Miller is an Emeritus Professor and Founding Director of CIMTR, as well as Chair of The Music Therapy Charity.

Instrumental to early development of the music therapy profession in the UK, Helen led international research in mental health and dementia, negotiating with the government and achieving professional recognition for music therapists in 1982. She led a large Arts Therapies NHS mental health service (1981-2006).

Advisor to the Department of Health, in 2016 she was awarded an OBE for her services to music therapy. She is a singer in the a cappella choir Cambridge Voices, a pianist and violinist.

Ian Cross is Emeritus Professor of Music and Science at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Wolfson College, having taught in the Faculty of Music from 1986 to 2021, supervised numerous doctoral students, and founded the Centre for Music & Science in 2002. His research on music has encompassed (inter alia) cognitive neuroscience, experimental archaeology, evolutionary theory and the social effects of musical interaction.

Ian is currently Principal Investigator on a Leverhulme Trust-funded project, Score Design for Music Reading, exploring how conventional music notation can be adapted to make it easier to read. He is also a guitarist.

Felicity is Associate Dean of Research for the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music at the University of Melbourne. She is a former Australia Research Council Future Fellow (2011-2015), and during this fellowship built models of songwriting as practiced through the lenses of different orientations. Since 2015, she has been leading a series of trials with people living with dementia.

Felicity has attracted more than $18 million in competitive research funding, including Principal Investigator on a Google.org AI innovation grant, three National Health and Medical Research Council grants, an Australia Research Council Discovery Grant, and a Medical Research Future Fund.

Jerome is an economist and author, and a major benefactor of CIMTR. He was Chairman of ARU until 2020.

In 2013, Jerome retired from the Ashmore Group, which he helped establish in 1999. His first book, Emerging Markets in an Upside Down World, was published in 2014, and his second, Have We All Gone Mad? about mass groupthink, in 2022.

Jerome has also been Chairman of the Fitzwilliam Museum Development Trust, Chairman of the Britten Sinfonia, and a Board Member of the Royal Philharmonic Society. He is a Visiting Professor at Cass Business School and a Vice President of Essex Community Foundation.

Evangelos Himonides is Professor of Technology, Education, and Music at UCL, where he leads a number of courses and supervises doctoral and post-doctoral research. He co-directs the International Music Education Research Centre (iMerc) and iMerc Press.

Evangelos is co-founder of the Music-Education-Technology International Conference (MET), edits the Sempre conference series, is Associate Editor of Frontiers in Psychology and the Journal of Music, Technology and Education, and past Associate Editor of Logopedics Phoniatrics Vocology.

Evangelos has developed the free online technologies for Sounds of Intent (2003-2023), Inspire-Music, and the Online Afghan Rubab Tutor. He is Fellow of the RSA and Chartered Fellow (FBCS CITP) of the British Computer Society. When time is available, Evangelos likes to handcraft musical instruments in order to raise funds for his charitable work.

Catherine is a music therapist and researcher working in mental health, holding the position of Senior Clinical Lecturer in Music Therapy at Queen Mary University of London. Her research focuses on evaluating processes and outcomes in music therapy through mixed methods, process evaluation and randomised controlled trials.

Catherine is currently Chief Investigator on the National Institute for Health and Care Research Health Technology Assessment-funded ERA trial testing the effectiveness of group art, dance movement and music therapy for patients with mixed diagnoses in community mental health care. Her clinical work is with older people on acute inpatient wards.

Catherine is co-founder of the Alliance for Recovery Research in Music Therapy (ARRIMT) and the International Music Therapy Clinical Trials Network (IMTCTN). She also serves on the Council for Allied Health Professions Research, and Music Therapy Charity Research Committee.

Jeff became a member of the CIMTR advisory panel in 2022. His professional background is in corporate real estate – specifically, the management, provision, acquisition, disposal, and strategic alliance of facilities and buildings for multi-national companies in the commercial sector.

Jeff retired in 2015, having spent the previous fourteen years as a director of a leading elderly care charity, innovating in the design of the built environment for the provision of dementia and nursing care facilities, encompassing care homes, specialist day centres, respite care, community centres, supported and independent living. This design work focussed on sensory stimulation, memory triggers, wayfinding, assistive technology, and generational engagement.

Jeff is active in Special Educational Needs from early years to Key Stage 4 at schools in London and Cambridgeshire, and holds a number of volunteer positions at Cambridge University Hospital on committees and Public Patient Involvement panels. He is a retired member of the Chartered Institute of Building and the Chartered Institute of Architectural Technology.

Professor Yvonne Barnett is Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research and Innovation) at ARU. She has strategic leadership responsibilities for: Research and Innovation; Industry Engagement, the Doctoral School, Student Employability, Enterprise and Entrepreneurship; Civic Impact; and Staff EDI.

Yvonne has active research interests in life sciences and public health, has authored over 250 research papers, has supervised 20 PhD students, and has secured over £35 million of funding for successful teaching, research and innovation initiatives.

Yvonne is Academic Adviser for Hong Kong Polytechnic University; Board member of the Medical and Health Research Board of The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland; Non-Executive Director of Medilink Midlands and of Innovate Cambridge; Board member of Cambridge University Health Partners; Member of the Leadership Team for the Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre; member of the Harlow Growth Board and Chair of the Management Executive Group of the ESRC-funded Cambridge DTP.

She is also a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Biology and the Institute of Biomedical Science.

Grace is Head of Music Minds Matter, a charity working to put positive mental health wellbeing centre stage in music. Prior to joining Music Minds Matter, Grace led the Music for Dementia campaign, having previously worked as a music therapist for over 10 years in adult psychiatry, education and the NHS.

Grace is passionate about working with all those in music to ensure the industry can be a beacon for positive mental health. Grace initially trained as a bassoonist at Guildhall and continues to play in a range of orchestras in her spare time.