Anne Niessen

Prof. Dr. Anne Niessen serves as Professor of Music Education and Dean of Faculty 5 at the Cologne University of Music and Dance. She has held this professorship since 2013, following her appointment as substitute professor in 2009. Prior to this, she worked as a scientific assistant at the University of Siegen (2001-2003) and as a civil servant at the Institute for Music Education at the University of Cologne (2003-2009).

Her educational background includes teacher training for secondary education in Music and German, completing her first state examination in 1992 and second state examination in 1994. She earned her doctorate from the Cologne University of Music and Dance in 1998 with a dissertation on girls' musical experiences during National Socialism, for which she received the Sigrid Abel-Struth Prize. She completed her habilitation at the University of Siegen in 2005 on "Individual Concepts of Music Teaching" and received her venia legendi in Music Education from the University of Cologne in 2009.

Prof. Niessen's research focuses on music pedagogical classroom research using qualitative empirical methods, particularly Grounded Theory Methodology and Situational Analysis, with an emphasis on interview studies with students and teachers. Her work explores heterogeneity in music education, teacher education, and methodological approaches to understanding music teaching and learning processes. She has made significant contributions to understanding individual teaching concepts, performance assessment in music education, and the implementation of cultural education projects.

Her recent publications (2019-2024) demonstrate a consistent research trajectory examining music education through qualitative lenses, with increasing focus on teacher perspectives, assessment practices, and methodological innovation. The publications reveal her evolving interest in situational analysis as a research methodology, power dynamics in music classrooms, and the practical implementation of music education concepts in diverse educational settings.

• Sigrid Abel-Struth Prize for her doctoral dissertation

Prof. Niessen has secured substantial external funding for multiple research projects, including the current MULEM-EX study (2023-2024) on music teacher shortages, the Musikprofil evaluation project (2022-2025), and previous projects on adaptivity in music teaching (AdaptiMUS, 2012-2015) and individualized instruction in the "Jedem Kind ein Instrument" program (GeiGE, 2009-2012). These projects, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the North Rhine-Westphalia Ministry of Culture, demonstrate her ability to lead large-scale collaborative research initiatives addressing critical issues in music education.

Her research team work focuses on qualitative approaches to understanding music teaching and learning processes, particularly through interview-based studies with both teachers and students. She has developed expertise in applying situational analysis to complex educational contexts and has contributed significantly to methodological discussions in music education research.