Emily Payne

Dr Emily Payne is an Associate Professor of Music at the School of Music, University of Leeds. She joined the institution as a Postdoctoral Research Assistant on the AHRC-funded project 'John Cage and Concert for Piano and Orchestra' before advancing to her current role. Her academic journey includes a DPhil in Music from the University of Oxford, an MMus in Advanced Musical Studies (Performance Studies) from Royal Holloway, and a BMus in Clarinet Performance from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.

Her research bridges musicology and music psychology, focusing on creative processes in contemporary and experimental music, ensemble dynamics, embodiment, and the materiality of notation. Key projects include analyses of John Cage’s works, Christian Wolff’s ensemble interactions, and interdisciplinary studies on performer-audience relationships and music-induced chills. She co-edited The Oxford Handbook of Time in Music (2021) and Material Cultures of Music Notation (2022), and led a special collection in Music & Science (2021) addressing global challenges in music psychology.

Dr Payne actively supervises PhD researchers in music performance and psychology, and her work has been featured in journals like Contemporary Music Review, Music & Letters, and Musicae Scientiae. She serves on the editorial boards of Music & Science and Musicae Scientiae, and is a member of the European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music (ESCOM) and the Royal Musical Association.