Emily Achieng Akuno is professor of music with teaching and university administration experience at Kenyatta University in Kenya, University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, Maseno University andThe Technical University of Kenya. Currently, she serves as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor in charge of Academic Affairs at The Co-operative University of Kenya.

Emily trained as a performer-educator in Kenya, USA and the UK, Her research interests veer towards cultural relevance in music education. She is the editor and a contributing author of the (2019) Routledge published Music Education in Africa: Concept, Process and Practice. She is a former president of the International Music Council (IMC) and current President of the International Society for Music Education (ISME) as well as chair of the Music Education Research Group – Kenya (MERG-Kenya).

  
Gert Biesta is Professor of Public Education in the Centre for Public Education and Pedagogy at Maynooth University, Ireland, and Professor of Educational Theory and Pedagogy at the Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, UK. In addition, he has a visiting professorship at the University of Agder, Norway, working across the departments of education, mental health and fine arts and crafts. He is currently also a visiting professor at Uniarts, Helsinki, Finland (Centre for Educational Research and Academic Development in the Arts). His work focuses on the theory of education and the theory and philosophy of educational and social research, with a particular interest in questions concerning curriculum, teaching, teacher education, citizenship and democracy, the arts, and religious education. Since 2020 he is a member of the National Scientific Curriculum Committee in the Netherlands, providing guidance to the Minister of Education on the future of the curriculum for primary and secondary schools. His work has so far appeared in 20 different languages. Recent books include: The Rediscovery of Teaching (Routledge 2017); Obstinate Education: Reconnecting School and Society (Brill-Sense 2019); Educational Research: An Unorthodox Introduction (Bloomsbury 2020); and World-Centred Education: A View for the Present (Routledge 2021). Personal website: www.gertbiesta.com

 
Sidsel Karlsen is vice-principal for research and development as well as professor of music education at the Norwegian Academy of Music. Karlsen has published widely in international research journals, anthologies, and handbooks. Her research interests include, among other things, the sociology of music education, various aspects of musical gentrification, and cultural diversity in music education. She is co-editor of the recent books Musical gentrification: Popular music, distinction and social mobility (Routledge) as well as The politics of diversity in music education (Springer).