Professor Oswaldo Lorenzo Quiles, from the Department of Didactics of Musical, Plastic and Corporal Expression at the University of Granada, welcomes postdoctoral candidates interested in applying for a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship (MSCA-PF) in 2024 at this University. Please note that applicants must comply with the Mobility Rule (for more information about the 2024 call, please consult this link.

Brief description of the institution:

The University of Granada (UGR), founded in 1531, is one of the largest and most important universities in Spain. With over 56,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students and more than 6,000 members of staff, the UGR offers over 90 undergraduate degrees, 164 master’s degrees (8 of which are international double degrees) and 28 doctoral programmes via its 124 departments and nearly 50 centers. Accordingly, the UGR offers one of the most extensive and diverse ranges of higher education programmes in Spain.

The UGR has been awarded with the "Human Resources Excellence in Research (HRS4R)", which reflects the the institution’s commitment to continuously improve its human resource policies in line with the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers. The UGR is also internationally renowned for its excellence in diverse research fields and ranked among the top Spanish universities in a variety of ranking criteria, such as national R&D projects, fellowships awarded, publications, and international funding.

The UGR is one of the few Spanish Universities listed in the Shanghai Top 500 ranking - Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU). The 2023 edition of the ARWU places the UGR in 201-300th position in the world and as the 1-2 highest ranked University in Spain (http://sl.ugr.es/0dwJ), reaffirming its position as an institution at the forefront of national and international research. From the perspective of specialist areas in the ARWU rankings (http://sl.ugr.es/0bSp), the UGR is outstanding in Food Science & Technology (ranked in the 48th position in the world), Hospitality & Tourism Management (ranked between 51th-75th position), and in the areas of Mathematics and Library & Information Science, both of them ranked between 76th-100th position. A little lower in the ranking, the UGR also stands out in the areas of Biomedical Engineering, Computer Science & Engineering and Nursing, in which the UGR is positioned at the rank in the 101-150th position. Finally, Dentistry & Oral Sciences is positioned between 151-200th position.

Additionally, the UGR counts with 9 researchers at the top of the Highly Cited Researchers (HCR) list, most of them related to the Computer Science scientific area. It is also well recognised for its web presence (http://sl.ugr.es/0a6i), being positioned at 76th place in the top 200 Universities in Europe.

Internationally, the University of Granada is firmly committed to its participation in the calls of the Framework Programme of the European Union. For the duration of the last Framework Programme, Horizon 2020, the UGR obtained a total of 121 projects with a total funding of around €29,4 million. For the current Framework Programme, Horizon Europe, the UGR has obtained 74 projects, so far, with a total funding of almost €20 million.

Brief description of the Centre/Research Group:

The DEDiCA research group (HUM-742) https://hum742.ugr.es/ was officially created in 2002, within the Andalusian Plan for Research, Development and Innovation (PAIDI) of the Ministry of Economy, Innovation, Science and Employment of the Andalusian Government. The line of research that enabled its emergence was attention to cultural differences and diversity at school from a didactic approach and focused on the Andalusian community. Currently, it has become an interdisciplinary group made up of researchers both nationally and internationally (from Colombia, Puerto Rico and Brazil), with extensive experience in different areas of knowledge: General Teaching, Specific Teaching, Psychology, Philology and Law.                                              

The lines of research of the DEDiCA research group have been consolidated and expanded to the following: a) Diversity at school, school coexistence, citizenship, education, intercultural education, education through the arts, education for human rights ...; b) Music psychology (musical stage anxiety, musical preferences, personality and musical tastes, etc.); c) Psychological research on minors in risk contexts, immigrants, women ....; d) Positive Psychology and Emotional Intelligence; e) Higher Education. 

Likewise, he has extensive experience in organizing periodic scientific events, such as the SIEMAI® (Simpósio Internacional Educação Música Artes Interculturais) and the MEETING OF SPRING®. Since 2011 he publishes DEDiCA magazine. Education and Humanities Magazine. Finally, the research group is linked to the Spanish Association for the Psychology of Music and Musical Interpretation (AEPMIM). In this web page you can consult the general data of the group, its members, the most relevant scientific production, projects it has led, etc.

Project description:

Educational and psychological research in music training and early language development.                                                                                        

Candidate will have to work in quantitative quasi-experimental studies with with pretest-tests-postest measures.                        Music education can positively influence all developmental domains, particularly language. As literature suggests, there is a link, anatomically as well as functionally, between language and music (Gromko, 2005; Koelsch & Siebel, 2005; Patel & Iversen, 2007; Peretz & Zatorre, 2005; Register, Darrow, Standley, & Swedberg, 2007; Slevc & Miyake, 2006; Tallal & Gaab, 2006). Skills in childhood education can contribute to the ability to communicate and comprehend language, increase the interest in books, and help to begin to read. Because of the educational implications, it is suggested that teachers and parents integrate music activities on a daily basis.

All students should have access to music education that focuses on learning musical skills and, consequently, overall learning will be fostered. Even though the professional music educator might have the strongest musical skills and experience, the child can benefit further from musical experiences when his or her community also provides musical experiences. As in language, music skills develop through listening. When children are immersed in this process everyday, their musical capacity, listening skills, and overall development increase (Slevc, 2012). This might be the main reason why music educators encouraged music listening from the womb, as does neuroscience research (Bigand & Poulin-Charronnat, 2006). Musical experiences can provide a space for teachers to practice these skills with their students because, as Patel (2010) stated, music has been naturally created to enhance human development. This benefit becomes more pertinent for the children from low socioeconomic families, which were the population studied in the current research, because they need more support for their learning and emotional development (Ludwig & Philips, 2008). As an added value, when the child has received formal music education experiences, he is more prepared to continue musical training in school and throughout his life.

Research Area:

☒ Social Sciences and Humanities (SOC)

For a correct evaluation of your candidature, please send the documents below to Professor Oswaldo Lorenzo Quiles (oswaldo@ugr.es): 

• CV
• Letter of recommendation (optional)