The Musical Investigator

Many of us love music, but we don’t understand why exactly that is – or how our individual experiences of music can differ. Rebecca Schaefer will research this in the run-up to the SNAAR Festival in Utrecht. And in a unique way: students in vocational education (mbo) will be the researchers.

Participants will investigate how background music affects our perception of urban environments in "Soundtrack of the City," track how they use music for emotional regulation and sleep improvement in "Help Yourself: Music as Self-Care," and compare human and parrot singing abilities in collaboration with ongoing research at the University of Amsterdam.

Rather than simply collecting data, participants will help formulate research questions, guide festival programming through a Student Advisory Board, and present their findings to the public. This approach aims to build "science capital" and scientific literacy among groups often underrepresented in science communication.

The project runs from September 2025 through September 2026, culminating with presentations at the SNAAR Festival on April 25, 2026, at TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht and follow-up sessions during Leiden's "Night of Discoveries."

Led by Dr. Rebecca Schaefer (Leiden University) in partnership with Stichting Resonance and supported by NWA Science Communication funding.