Michael Ahlers

Prof. Dr. Michael Ahlers is Full Professor of Music Education with a focus on Popular Music at the Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany, and an associate member of the university’s Future Center for Teacher Education (ZZL). He also held visiting professorships at the University of Huddersfield (2020, 2025).

Education and Career

• PhD in Philosophy (2008), University of Paderborn – dissertation on interface problems in music education and ergonomics of sequencer programs.
• Studied secondary-school teaching (music/German) and musicology.
• Previous roles: Professor of Music Education (digital media focus) at Leopold Mozart Center, University of Augsburg (2011); Temporary Academic Councillor, University of Paderborn (2009–2012); Research Assistant, University of Paderborn (2005–2009).
• Co-founder of a Hamburg-based music & media production company; editor-in-chief of the journal "Musikunterricht und Computer (MUC)".

Research Interests

Prof. Ahlers’ research integrates popular music studies, empirical music pedagogy, digital media, creativity and improvisation research, and cultural-economic analyses of music production. Current emphases include:

• Platformization of songwriting and the socio-economic structures of songwriting camps.
• Digital-material interfaces in music education and extra-institutional learning.
• Competency-oriented and adaptive classroom music-making.
• Dialogical arts education for cultural literacy and social inclusion.
• Music economics, rights education, and diversity-sensitive teacher training.

Publications & Trends

Across 112+ peer-reviewed articles, books, and chapters since 2020, a clear trajectory emerges: scrutinizing how technological change (AI, platforms, digitality) reshapes creative labor in popular music, and translating these insights into innovative, research-based pedagogies. His collaborative volumes and journal special issues have become key references for scholars in music education and popular music studies.

Scientific Awards & Honors

• Visiting Professor, University of Huddersfield (2020, 2025).
• Research Prize of the University of Paderborn (2009).
• Virtual University of Bavaria grant (€40,000) for transdisciplinary project "Digital Media between Art, Music, and Education" (2012).

Doctoral Supervision & Grants

Prof. Ahlers currently supervises 17 doctoral researchers and has served as primary or secondary reviewer for numerous PhD defenses. He is Principal Investigator or Scientific Project Manager on 22 funded projects (totaling several million euros) from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), and Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture. Flagship initiatives include:

• dialoguing@rts (DFG, 2024–2027): advancing cultural literacy through dialogical arts education.
• COME-ARTS (BMBF, 2023–2026): diversity-sensitive digital continuing-education networks for arts and music teachers.
• MI-RAP Subproject 8 (BMBF): music-industry resilience acceleration.
• CODIP (BMBF, 2020–2023): digitally supported adaptive music teaching.

Laboratories & Teams

Research and teaching activities are anchored in the Institute for Art, Music and its Education (IKMV) at Leuphana, where Prof. Ahlers leads the Popular Music & Digital Media Lab. The lab collaborates closely with the interdisciplinary Future Center for Teacher Education (ZZL), fostering innovation in teacher-training curricula and hosting regular songwriting-camp ethnographies and digital-media workshops.