UCL academic honoured for outstanding contribution to musicology

Often regarded as the ‘Nobel Prize in musicology’, the Guido Adler Prize is presented by the International Musicological Society (IMS) in recognition of those who have made an outstanding contribution to the study of music. 

Professor Born (UCL Anthropology) is a highly regarded interdisciplinary researcher who analyses the social and cultural meanings of contemporary music. Her research explores the influence of musical institutions on music’s meanings, the nature of musical experience and of musical genres, and how the relationships between humans and ‘nonhuman actors’ such as technology affect how music is created and experienced. 

On receving her award, Professor Born said:

““It is a great honour to be awarded this Prize, and it reflects the fact that musicology and research on music more generally are at a crucial turning point, where nineteenth-century approaches are giving way to interdisciplinary twenty-first century perspectives on the many roles played by music in human lives. I am deeply grateful for this recognition.” 

Prior to her academic career, Professor Born was a professional musician, having studied cello and piano at the Royal College of Music, before joining experimental and avant-garde jazz and rock bands in the 1980s. She also helped to found the first all-woman improvisation ensemble, the Feminist Improvising Group. 

Currently, Professor Born is leading a five-year interdisciplinary research programme, MusAI, in collaboration with UCL’s Institute of Advanced Studies. The project is investigating the cultural implications of AI through critical studies examining its relationship with music. 

Professor Born has also been honoured with The Royal Musical Association’s Dent Medal in 2007, a Fellowship of the British Academy in 2014, and an OBE ‘for services to anthropology, musicology and higher education’ in 2016. 

The IMS Guido Adler Prize awarding committee selected Professor Born from a pool of international candidates and was chaired by Dr Maria Rosa De Luca (University of Catania, Sicily).  

Professor Nick Witham (Interim Executive Dean of UCL Social and Historical Sciences) said:  

““I would like to extend my warmest congratulations to Georgina as she is awarded this year’s Guido Adler Prize. Her pioneering work in the field of Music and Anthropology exemplifies the incredible potential of interdisciplinary research to help us understand our world and the human experience.” 

Links

• Professor Georgian Born’s academic profile 
• International Musicological Society 
• The Guido Adler Prize 
• Music & Artificial Intelligence (MusAI) 
• UCL Anthropology 
• UCL Social & Historical Sciences 

Image

• Professor Georgia Born 

Media contact 

Sophie Hunter  

E: sophie.hunter [at] ucl.ac.uk