Personal statement

Dr Simon Strange is a multidimensional creative, spanning the academic and creative industries, a trombone player, music producer, photographer and socio-cultural academic. He has performed around the world and curates the Sidmouth international Jazz and Blues Festival. His first book, Blank Canvas, based on pedagogical connections between UK art schools and popular music, was released by Intellect Publishing in 2022 to critical acclaim.

Dr Strange’s postdoctoral research orbits around the concept of scenius, exploring how collective creativity developed within a range of popular music scenes including hip hop, jungle and jazz. He has written articles for the Journal of Popular Music Education as well as presenting at various popular music conferences within the IASPM, KISMIF and Punk Scholars Network networks.  

He is currently the Research Programme Manager for Story at Bath Spa University, lectures on the researcher development programme and is a PDRA in the School of Education. He is the university expert in Nvivo qualitative research software.

Academic qualifications

  • PhD in Creative Arts Education

Areas of expertise

  • Popular Music
  • Education
  • Research Methods
  • Programme Management
  • Cultural Studies
  • Academic Writing