KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Associate Professor, School of Education, University of Durham, UK
"Reimagining Creativity for Student Engagement: Agency, motivation and choice in music education"
Dimitra has been researching and publishing in the field of music education for over twenty years. She is a passionate advocate for the transformative power of music education. Her work centres on the belief that music plays a vital role in young people's development, fostering emotional well-being, self-expression, social bonding, and a sense of belonging. She views music not only as a creative outlet but as a powerful tool for social cohesion, collaboration, and life satisfaction.
Her research as a whole focuses on improving educational, behavioural, and socio-psychological conditions in schools, with a particular emphasis on pupil creativity, engagement, resilience, and well-being. Dimitra's recent work explores how reimagining creativity in music education—through student agency, motivation, and choice—can lead to more inclusive and empowering learning environments. She advocates for process-focused approaches that prioritise exploration, improvisation, composition and collaboration, aligning with contemporary views of multiple creativities and flexible pedagogies.
Through her publications and projects, she has highlighted the importance of pupil voice, the barriers to music uptake, and the role of music in enhancing social capital and emotional health. Her keynote will invite educators and researchers to rethink creativity as a dynamic, participatory process that can transform not only music education but the broader educational experience, during the school years and beyond.
Dr. Jelena Martinović Bogojević
Full Professor, Music Academy, University of Montenegro, Montenegro
"Integrating Insights from Musical Creativity into Broader Arts Education"
Jelena Martinović-Bogojević, PhD, is a Professor at the Music Academy of the University of Montenegro, where she teaches a range of courses in music pedagogy. Her scholarly work focuses on musical creativity in education, integrative approaches to teaching, the development of intercultural competences through music education, and the historical foundations of music pedagogy. She is the co-author of four textbook series for primary school music education and a founding member of the International Symposium on Music Pedagogy (SIMPED). She also serves on the Committee for Quality Assurance at the University of Montenegro. Prof. Martinović-Bogojević is the national coordinator for Montenegro in the European Association for Music in Schools (EAS), and in 2025 she was elected to the EAS Board, where she continues to contribute actively to the advancement of music education in the international context.