Research Associate

Claire Howlin is a postdoctoral researcher who works on child-led music therapy to improve social and communication skills in autistic children. She completed her PhD at University College Dublin, where she identified the importance of agency and absorption in music listening interventions for wellbeing.

She is the research lead on the Autism-CHIME (Children’s Improvisational Music therapy Evaluation) trial. This is funded by the Autism Centre of Excellence and the Stoneygate and Rosetrees trusts. She is also interested in identifying the long-term impact of music and visual arts engagement on lifelong health and wellbeing using controlled experimental designs and evidence synthesis from large international datasets. Within this she is working to establish a scientific rationale for integrating music and the visual arts into everyday life, including schools, hospitals, and public spaces, and exploring if self-expression through the arts can enhance or protect self-esteem across the lifespan.

She is a Junior Research Fellow with Wolfson college and holds a Creative Health Research Fellowship from the department of Arts and Sciences in University College London where she works collaboratively to identify the educational needs of clinical health professionals in relation to the scientific basis of visual arts and music interventions and engages with the National Centre of Creative Health and Royal College of Public health to build awareness about creative health approaches, and to translate these research findings into public policy.

Claire completed a Masters in Music Mind and Brain in Goldsmiths, University of London, following which she completed a PhD in Psychology from University College Dublin and postdoctoral positions in Trinity College Dublin, and Queen Mary University of London.

For a full list of publications please see https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Claire-Howlin

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