Photo: Charlotte Wiig
Sidsel Karlsen is an internationally recognised scholar and professor of music education at the Norwegian Academy of Music. She is also a docent at the University of the Arts Helsinki and has previously worked as a professor of music education and general education at what is now known as the University of Inland Norway.
Research
Karlsen has conducted research within the field of music education for over 20 years and has covered a broad range of topics, often with various forms of diversity as the axis of interest. Her previous research areas and themes include music festivals, learning in informal arenas, musical agency, music education and cultural diversity, musical gentrification, music education and social inequality, as well as processes of development and change in higher music education. Her current research interests are mainly connected to music education and AI, feminist perspectives on music education practice, and music education and the sounding traditions of minorities.
Teaching
Karlsen has taught in higher music education since 2004 in three different countries (Norway, Sweden, and Finland). She has supervised around 20 PhD candidates and regularly serves as a member of doctoral committees, both in Norway and internationally.
Leadership
Karlsen is the leader of the Centre for Educational Research in Music (CERM) at the Norwegian Academy of Music, in collaboration with professor Siw Graabræk Nielsen. During the period of 2021–2025, she also served as the institution’s vice-principal of research and artistic development work.
Editorial work
From 2010 to 2016, Karlsen was a member of the editorial board of the journal International Journal of Music Education (journals.sagepub.com). She is currently a member of the editorial boards of Research Studies in Music Education, Action (journals.sagepub.com), Criticism, and Theory for Music Education and Finnish Journal of Music Education (act.maydaygroup.org), in addition to serving as a reviewer for other international research journals.
Projects and publications
Karlsen has published over 70 peer-reviewed articles and chapters in journals, anthologies and handbooks, both alone and in collaboration with a wide range of internationally recognised scholars. She is the co-editor of six anthologies, among them The politics of diversity in music education (link.springer.com) (2021, Springer), Musical gentrification: Popular music, distinction and social mobility (2021, Routledge) and Visions for intercultural music teacher education (link.springer.com) (2020, Springer). She has also published the textbook Normkritisk musikkpedagogikk: Mangfold og ansvar (2025, Cappelen Damm Akademisk).
In her capacity as a researcher, Karlsen has led and participated in several larger externally funded research and development projects, including:
- Exploring democracy: Conceptions of immigrant students’ development of musical agency. Funded by the Academy of Finland, 2009-2011. Project manager: Sidsel Karlsen.
- Musical gentrification and socio-cultural diversities. Funded by the Research Council of Norway, 2013-2017. Project manager: Petter Dyndahl.
- Global visions through mobilizing networks: Co-developing intercultural music teacher education in Finland, Israel and Nepal (sites.uniarts.fi). Funded by the Academy of Finland, 2015-2020. Project managers: Heidi Westerlund og Sidsel Karlsen.
- The social dynamics of musical upbringing and schooling in the Norwegian welfare state. Funded by the Research Council of Norway 2018-2022. Project manager: Petter Dyndahl.
- Kjønnsbalanse, mangfold og inkludering i høyere musikkutdanning ved Norges musikkhøgskole. Funded by the Research Council of Norway, 2024-2026. Project manager: Sidsel Karlsen.
Currently, Karlsen is one of the work package leaders of the research consortium MishMash Centre for AI and Creativity (mishmash.no). She is also a participant in the development project SAMUS – Samisk musikk i musikkundervisningen.
Publications
- Operationalising the teaching of Sámi music in Norwegian music teacher education: Cultural humility, decolonisation and courage 2026
- Gjør byen mer delt! 2026
- Korttenkt av Bydel Alna 2026
- SAMUS - Strengthening Sámi music in music teacher education 2026
- How music genres matter in extra-curricular music education: A longitudinal study of the Norwegian schools of music and performing arts 2026
- Presentasjon av NMHs arbeid opp mot kulturskole 2026
- Theoretical work in music education research 2026
- Soziologie der Musikpädagogik 2026
- The double game of music, boklansering 2026
- Music as agent: A posthumanist attempt to understand music as a force of social change and turmoil 2025
