Rebecca Schaefer

Dr. Rebecca Schaefer is an Associate Professor at Leiden University, affiliated with the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences and the Health, Medical- and Neuropsychology department. She leads the interdisciplinary Music, Brain, Health & Technology research group, integrating clinical neuropsychology, cognitive neuroscience, and music psychology.

• PhD, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior (Radboud University Nijmegen)
• MSc, Clinical Neuropsychology (University of Amsterdam)
• MSc, Music Cognition (Keele University, UK)

Research Interests
Her work focuses on clinical applications of music, including:

• Musical interactions and neural processes
• Music technology for health interventions
• Movement entrainment to music
• Music imagery and its cognitive effects
• Learning musical skills and their neural underpinnings
• Behavioral and neural mechanisms in rehabilitation

Grants & Collaborations
Dr. Schaefer has secured major funding, including:

• NWO Aspasia grant (2019-2023, €150K)
• NWA-WECOM grant for SNAAR Festival (2020, €50K)
• Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship (UK)
• FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IEF grant (€200K)
• Carnegie Trust Larger Grant (2013-2015, £50K as co-applicant)

She collaborates with AI researchers, computational musicologists, composers, and medical professionals to translate musical engagement into therapeutic applications.

Teaching & Leadership
Dr. Schaefer teaches in the Psychology BSc and MSc programs, supervises MSc theses, and co-teaches a Music Cognition module in the Humanities Faculty. She also contributes to the Academy of Creative and Performing Arts.