Dr Neta Spiro

Neta Spiro is Reader in Performance Science at the Royal College of Music and an honorary Research Fellow at Imperial College London. Neta’s background is in music (BMus, Oxford University), cognitive science (MSc, Edinburgh University), and music psychology (PhD, Amsterdam University). She was previously Research Fellow at Royal Holloway, University of London, and at the New School for Social Research, New York, and Head of Research at Nordoff Robbins, London. Neta taught at the Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge, where she continues as an honorary member.

Two questions underlie her research: What is the potential role of music in peoples’ health and wellbeing, and what is communicated when we make music together? Her research on these questions has been from three perspectives: investigations of people’s reported experiences of music making, effects on people’s judgements, and analysis of interaction in music.

Neta’s current research includes the Health, Economic, and Social impact of the ARTs (HEartS) project, which explores the impact of arts and culture on health and wellbeing from individual, social, and economic perspectives. She is investigating the range of relationships that people can have with music and is exploring the possible levels of shared understanding across a variety of forms of music making.

Her teaching includes music, health, and wellbeing topics as well as areas of music psychology.

Selected publications

Spiro N & Sanfilippo KRM (eds.) (2022), Collaborative Insights: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Musical Care Throughout the Life Course, Oxford University Press [].

Spiro N & Schober MF (2021), Discrepancies and disagreements in classical chamber musicians’ characterisations of a performance, Music & Science, 4, 1-26 .

Spiro N, Perkins R, Kaye S, Tymoszuk U, Mason-Bertrand A, Cossette I, Glasser S, & Williamon A (2021), The effects of COVID-19 lockdown 1.0 on working patterns, income, and wellbeing among performing arts professionals in the United Kingdom (April–June 2020), Frontiers in Psychology, 11 (594086) .

Spiro N, Tymoszuk U, Perkins R, Mason-Bertrand A, Gee K, & Williamon A (2020), Arts engagement trends in the UK and their mental and social wellbeing implications: HEartS Survey, PLoS ONE, 16 (e0246078) [.

Tsiris G, Spiro N, Coggins O, & Zubala A (2020), The Impact Areas Questionnaire (IAQ): a music therapy service evaluation tool, Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy, 20, 1-27 [].

Sanfilippo KRM, Spiro N, Molina-Solana M, & Lamont A (2020), Do the shuffle: exploring reasons for music listening through shuffled play, PLoS One, 15 (e0228457) [].

Knight S, Spiro N, & Cross I (2017), Look, listen and learn: exploring effects of passive entrainment on social judgements of observed others, Psychology of Music, 45, 99-115 [].

Schober MF & Spiro N (2016), Listeners’ and performers’ shared understanding of jazz improvisations, Frontiers in Psychology, 7 (1629), 1-20 [].

Faculties / departments: Research, Academic staff

Research

Latest Publications

Spiro, N. and Shaughnessy, C. and Perkins, R. and Waddell, G. and Campbell, A. and Williamon, A. (2024) Social Sciences & Humanities Open ISSN 2590-2911 (online) (In Press)

Spiro, N. and Waddell, G. and Adediran, R. and Osmond, P. and Tredget, E. and Sharma, S. and Perkins, R. (2024) In: Music and Parental Mental Wellbeing. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 92-120. ISBN 9780192863287 (paperback) 9780191954191 (online)

Williamon, A. and Spiro, N. and Yang, J. and Shaughnessy, C. and Luo, C. and Waddell, G. and Perkins, R. (2024) [Dataset]

Williamon, A. and Spiro, N. and Shaughnessy, C. and Waddell, G. and Perkins, R. and Campbell, A. (2023) [Dataset]

Spiro, N. and Yang, J. and Shaughnessy, C. and Luo, C. and Perkins, R. and Waddell, G. and Williamon, A. (2023) Social Sciences & Humanities Open, 8 (100691). ISSN 2590-2911 (online)

Spiro, N. and Shaughnessy, C. and Waddell, G. and Perkins, R. and Campbell, A. and Williamon, A. (2023) PLOS One, 18 (10) (e0292722). ISSN 1932-6203 (online)

Spiro, N. and Sanfilippo, K. R. M. and McConnell, B. B. and Pike-Rowney, G. and Bonini Baraldi, F. and Brabec, B. and Van Buren, K. and Camlin, D. A. and Cardoso, T. M. and C抬ifdalo虉z, B. U. and Cross, I. and Dumbauld, B. and Ettenberger, M. and Falkenberg, K. and Fouche虂, S. and Frid, E. and Gosine, J. and graham-jackson, a. l. and Grahn, J. A. and Harrison, K. and Ilari, B. and Mollison, S. and Morrison, S. J. and Pe虂rez-Acosta, G. and Perkins, R. and Pitt, J. and Rabinowitch, T. C. and Robledo, J. P. and Roginsky, E. and Shaughnessy, C. and Sunderland, N. and Talmage, A. and Tsiris, G. and de Wit, K. (2023) Music & Science, 6 pp. 1-18. ISSN 2059-2043 (online)

Thomson, L. J. M. and Spiro, N. and Williamon, A. and Chatterjee, H. J. (2023) International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20 (6943). ISSN 1660-4601 (online)

Shaughnessy, C. and Perkins, R. and Spiro, N. and Waddell, G. and Williamon, A. (2023) Cultural Trends ISSN 0954-8963 (print) 1469-3690 (online)

Perkins, R. and Spiro, N. and Waddell, G. (2023) Public Health, 220 pp. 72-79. ISSN 0033-3506

Perkins, R. and Spiro, N. and Waddell, G. (2023) [Dataset]

Knight, S. and Spiro, N. (2022) Musicae Scientiae ISSN 1029-8649 (print) 2045-4147 (online)

Shaughnessy, C. and Perkins, R. and Spiro, N. and Waddell, G. and Campbell, A. and Williamon, A. (2022) Social Sciences & Humanities Open, 6 (1) pp. 1-12. ISSN 2590-2911 (online)

Perkins, R. and Kaye, S. and Zammit, B. B. and Mason-Bertrand, A. and Spiro, N. and Williamon, A. (2022) Public Health, 207 pp. 1-6. ISSN 0033-3506

Williamon, A. and Waddell, G. and Spiro, N. and Perkins, R. and Shaughnessy, C. and Campbell, A. and Miraldo, M. and Lalioti, V. and Ppali, S. (2022) The Pandemic and Beyond.

Spiro, N. and Perkins, R. and Kaye, S. and Tymoszuk, U. and Mason-Bertrand, A. and Cossette, I. and Glasser, S. and Williamon, A. (2021) [Video]

Perkins, R. and Mason-Bertrand, A. and Tymoszuk, U. and Spiro, N. and Gee, K. and Williamon, A. (2021) BMC Public Health, 21 (1208) ISSN 1471-2458 (online)

Spiro, N. and Schober, M. F. (2021) Music & Science, 4 ISSN 2059-2043

Tymoszuk, U. and Spiro, N. and Perkins, R. and Mason-Bertrand, A. and Gee, K. and Williamon, A. (2021) PLOS One, 16 e0246078. ISSN 1932-6203

Williamon, A. and Tymoszuk, U. and Spiro, N. and Gee, K. and Mason-Bertrand, A. and Perkins, R. (2021) [Dataset]

Williamon, A. and Spiro, N. and Kaye, S. and Tymoszuk, U. and Mason-Bertrand, A. and Perkins, R. (2021) [Dataset]

Spiro, N. and Perkins, R. and Kaye, S. and Tymoszuk, U. and Mason-Bertrand, A. and Cossette, I. and Glasser, S. and Williamon, A. (2021) Frontiers in Psychology, 11 (594086). ISSN 1664-1078

Corcoran, C. and Spiro, N. (2021) Journal of Interdisciplinary Music Studies, 10 pp. 73-98.

Tymoszuk, U. and Perkins, R. and Spiro, N. and Williamon, A. and Fancourt, D. (2020) The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 75 (7) pp. 1609-1619. ISSN 1079-5014 (print) 1758-5368 (online)

Tsiris, G. and Spiro, N. and Coggins, O. and Zubala, A. (2020) Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy, 20 (2) ISSN 1504-1611 (online)

Sanfilippo, K. R. M. and Spiro, N. and Molina-Solana, M. and Lamont, A. (2020) PLOS ONE, 15 (2) ISSN 1932-6203 (online)

Fancourt, D. and Garnett, C. and Spiro, N. and West, R. and M眉llensiefen, D. (2019) PLOS ONE, 14 (2) pp. 1-22. ISSN 1932-6203 (online)

Spiro, N. and Tsiris, G. and Cripps, C. (2018) Approaches: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Music Therapy ISSN 2459-3338

Spiro, N. and Tsiris, G. and Cripps, C. (2017) Music Therapy Perspectives, 36 (1) pp. 67-78. ISSN 0734-6875 (print) 2053-7387 (online)

Pras, A. and Schober, M. F. and Spiro, N. (2017) Frontiers in Psychology, 8 (966). ISSN 1664-1078

Spiro, N. and Farrant, C. and Pavlicevic, M. (2017) Dementia: The International Journal of Social Research and Practice, 16 (3) pp. 259-281. ISSN 1471-3012 (print) 1741-2684 (online)

Tsiris, G. and Spiro, N. and Pavlicevic, M. (2017) Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, 27 (1) pp. 3-27. ISSN Print: 0809-8131 Online: 1944-8260

Knight, S. and Spiro, N. and Cross, I. (2017) Psychology of Music, 45 (1) pp. 99-115. ISSN 0305-7356 (print) 1741-3087 (online)

Schober, M. F. and Spiro, N. (2016) Frontiers in Psychology, 7 (1629). ISSN 1664-1078

Spiro, N. and Gold, N. and Rink, J. (2016) In: Mathemusical Conversations: Mathematics and Computation in Music Performance and Composition. Lecture Notes Series, Institute for Mathematical Sciences, National University of Singapore (32). World Scientific, Singapore, pp. 109-128. ISBN 978-981-3140-09-7 (hardback) 978-981-3140-11-0 (e-book)

Sanfilippo, K. R. M. and Spiro, N. (2016) Approaches: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Music Therapy, 9 (1) pp. 159-163. ISSN 2459-3338

Spiro, N. and Himberg, T. (2016) Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 371 (1693) pp. 1-11. ISSN 0962-8436

Spiro, N. and Schober, M. F. (2014) Psychology of Music, 42 pp. 771-775. ISSN 0305-7356 (print) 1741-3087 (online)

Spiro, N. and Tsiris, G. and Pavlicevic, M. (2014) In: Music in the Social and Behavioural Sciences: An Encyclopaedia. Sage, California, pp. 771-773. ISBN 9781452283036 (hardback)

Schober, M. F. and Spiro, N. (2014) Frontiers in Psychology, 5 (808). ISSN 1664-1078

Tsiris, G. and Spiro, N. and Pavlicevic, M. (2014) British Journal of Music Therapy, 28 (1) pp. 4-24. ISSN 1359-4575 (print) 2059-9773 (online)

Rink, J. and Spiro, N. and Gold, N. (2011) In: New Perspectives on Music and Gesture. SEMPRE Studies in The Psychology of Music . Routledge, Abingdon, pp. 267-292. ISBN 9780754664628 (hardback) 9781138248700 (paperback) 9781315598048 (e-book)

Spiro, N. (2010) Aging and Mental Health, 14 (8) pp. 891-899. ISSN 1360-7863 (print) 1364-6915 (online)

Spiro, N. and Gold, N. and Rink, J. (2010) Musicae Scientiae, 14 (2) pp. 23-55. ISSN 1029-8649 (print) 2045-4147 (online)

Cross, I. and Satinder, G. and Knight, S. and Nash, C. and Rabinowitch, T. C. and Slobodian, L. and Spiro, N. and Woodruff, G. and Woolhouse, M. (2008) Empirical Musicology Review, 3 (2) pp. 55-58. ISSN 1559-5749