PGR Profiles

Browse our current Postgraduate Research Students below and find out more about the projects they are working on

For a list of those who have successfully completed PhDs at the RNCM since the programme commenced in 2009, see our PGR Alumni page.

Akiho Suzuki

Akiho’s AHRC-funded PhD project aims to develop and test an online intervention on effective practice and performance preparation […]

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Suting Han

Exploring Audiovisual multimedia composition vocabularies: Composing for Chinese Zodiac Suting Han’s scholarly inquiry meticulously explores the confluence of […]

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Dan Baczkowski

Dan Baczkowski (1994) is a composer and music psychologist whose research is focused on listeners’ perception of time […]

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Matthew Lau

Matthew is an accomplished pianist having been awarded 1st place at the Beethoven Junior Intercollegiate Piano competition to […]

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Hwan Hee Kim

Hwan Hee is studying composer Kuk Jin Kim and Kuk Jin’s creation of a classical ‘sound of Korea’. […]

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Songhao Yao

Songhao’s research explores effects of breathing patterns in non-wind instruments (instruments working without air). Supervised by Professor Emily Howard and Dr […]

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Hans-Martin Buff

Hans-Martin Buff is a recording engineer and music producer. He began his career at Pachyderm Studios in Cannon […]

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Faith Thompson

Faith Thompson is a PhD Musicology student. Her AHRC-funded project, ‘Gabriel Pierné (1863–1937) and the Composer-Conductor Identity’, is […]

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Joanna Sear

A professional singer of Popular Music (PM) genres for 30 years, and a teacher of them for 16 […]

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Megan Steinberg

Megan is working in collaboration with disability music charity Drake Music to compose music for d/Deaf, disabled and […]

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Emma Clarke

Emma Clarke is a classical guitarist and studied for her Masters degree at Leeds Conservatoire. She’s worked with […]

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Dobromir Tsenov

Dobromir’s research aims to explore and record the complete piano music by the neglected 20th century Bulgarian composer […]

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Devon Bonelli

Devon is studying his PhD in Composition with his supervisors Prof. Emily Howard, Dr Simon Clarke, Dr Sam […]

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Elspeth Brooke

The Application of Cinematographic Techniques and Aesthetics of Proximity and Perspective to Musical Composition In the first year […]

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Matthew Brown

Matthew Brown is a composer and violist, born in 1985 in Canterbury, England. He trained as a chef […]

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Caroline Clegg

Caroline’s performance-based research is the creation of new site-specific music and drama pieces in the setting of Heaton […]

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Meriel Price

Meriel’s research expands on her existing creative practice, investigating nuances of the art – life relationship in order […]

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Eleanor Guenault

Eleanor’s research interests surround the issues of diversity in music education, and specifically the question of gender balance […]

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Christian Jones

Opera North bass and contrabass trombonist Christian Jones began playing at the age of ten, progressing through Staffordshire’s […]

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Naomi Kayayan

Through an exploration of Engaging Students and Teachers as Partners (Cook-Sather et al., 2014; Bovill, 2020), Naomi’s PhD […]

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Simon Knighton

Simon’s research will investigate the area of acoustic instrumentation plus electronics and will tackle the issue of the […]

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Peggy Nolan

Peggy’s research will investigate the correlation of Luigi Boccherini’s craft both as composer and cellist, towards the comprehension […]

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Rosalind Ridout

Rosalind’s research centres around her (moving) body as a flute player and performer, and is an autoethnographic exploration […]

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Ellen Sargen

Ellen’s research addresses ongoing shifts in the creative distribution between composer and performer A composer who predominantly works […]

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Melvin Tay

Melvin’s research explores re-realising opera through arrangements for chamber ensemble that would help facilitate performances by groups with […]

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Nick Waldock

Nick completed his performance Masters at the RNCM in 2017 where he created an electric bass guitar-led 11-piece […]

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Anna Wright

The supporters and benefactors of the Royal Manchester College of Music (RMCM): musical patronage and philanthropy in Manchester, […]

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