George Waddell

Dr. George Waddell is Performance Research and Innovation Fellow at the Royal College of Music (RCM), where he also serves as Area Leader in Performance Science for the BMus programme. Additionally, he holds an honorary Research Associate position in the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London. His work focuses on understanding and optimizing how performers learn, prepare, perform, and are evaluated, with particular emphasis on the role of technology in enhancing these processes.

Dr. Waddell's research spans multiple domains within performance science, with significant contributions to understanding musicians' health and wellbeing, performance evaluation methodologies, and technology-enhanced learning. His work often bridges disciplines, connecting music performance with psychology, health sciences, and technology. As Area Leader in Performance Science, he oversees modules that integrate the latest scientific knowledge into musical training, and he designs and leads courses on research methods, performance psychology, and professional skills development.

His research output demonstrates a consistent trajectory of innovation, with recent publications focusing on musicians' health, pandemic impacts on arts professionals, technology-enhanced performance training, and interdisciplinary applications of performance science. Dr. Waddell's work has expanded from traditional music performance contexts to broader applications in mental health (particularly postnatal depression interventions through songwriting) and cross-cultural studies of arts professionals' wellbeing.

Dr. Waddell has secured significant research funding, including multiple Arts and Humanities Research Council grants totaling over £2 million, and has led the development of the RCM's Performance Laboratory featured in BBC News. He serves as Associate Editor for Frontiers in Psychology: Performance Science and on the editorial board for the Journal of Piano Research.

As a doctoral supervisor, Dr. Waddell mentors several research students working on diverse projects within performance science. His collaborative approach is evident in his extensive co-authorship with colleagues across multiple institutions, particularly with Professor Aaron Williamon and other members of the Centre for Performance Science.