2. Jazz Research Day

Jazz Research Day

Jazz Research Day @KCB 2026
Lecture
Data
,
10:00
to
16:30
Location
Campus Kaai, Aula 6 (Building A), Nijverheidskaai 170, 1070 Anderlecht
Price
Free entrance
Reservation
No reservation required

Every year, the research group Jazz, Improvised & Popular Music organizes a jazz research day during which artistic jazz researchers, often our own KCB doctoral candidates, can present their work in words and sounds.

This year’s edition is coupled to the fifth conference of the International Network of Artistic Research in Jazz (INARJ), which gathers artistic researchers in jazz and improvised music from around the world for two days of presentations, workshops, and concerts (26–27 February 2026). As such, we had the opportunity to invite Prof. Dr. Michael Kahr, a leading expert on artistic research in jazz and founder of INARJ, as the central guest speaker for this year’s Jazz Research Day.

Programme

10:00–12:00Feedback session Masterproef research
12:00–13:00Lunch break
13:00–14:00Collaborative Networks, Organizations and Shared Infrastructures in Artistic Research: Implications for Jazz and Popular Music Education and Career Development
14:00–15:30Feedback session PhD research
15:30–16:30Artistic Research in Jazz and Popular Music: Theories, Positions, Methods

Feedback sessions

Feedback session Masterproef research

10:00–12:00 

This session is exclusively for graduating (MA2) students of KCB’s jazz department and their main subject teachers to present their work-in-progress on the research of their Masterproef. They will receive feedback by KCB jazz research coaches (M. Heyman & L. Mora Matus) and Prof. Kahr.

Feedback session PhD research

14:00–15:30

This session is open to all but focuses on the ongoing doctoral research at KCB’s jazz department. Doctoral candidates will present (aspects/parts of) their work-in-progress on their research projects and will receive feedback by Prof. Kahr.

Lectures

Collaborative Networks, Organizations and Shared Infrastructures in Artistic Research: Implications for Jazz and Popular Music Education and Career Development

13:00–14:00

The establishment of Artistic Research (AR) has relied on concerted activities in collaborative networks, organizations and shared infrastructures. Organizations such as the Society for Artistic Research (SAR), the European League of Institutes of the Arts (ELIA) and the former SHARE network have facilitated a shared discourse through project work, conferences, academic publications, policy papers and the development of infrastructure such as the Research Catalogue (RC). 

This presentation focuses on the development and current structures of the academic environment for artist-researchers in jazz and popular music and emphasizes their impact on both study programs and subsequent career development.

Artistic Research in Jazz and Popular Music: Theories, Positions, Methods

15:30–16:30

Artistic Research (AR) is an emerging discipline in art universities, which has rapidly gained prominence during the past two decades. While practice-oriented and practice-informed research in jazz theory and pedagogy dates back to the 1950s, academic publications on AR in jazz have only emerged in the last decade. Similarly, AR in popular music is a recent development, expected to contribute significantly to participatory and collaborative approaches, as well as to epistemological diversity in academia. This presentation highlights the theoretical frameworks of AR drawing from selected publications which have had a sustainable impact on 

  1. the wider field of AR across all art fields including music and 
  2. the specific development of AR in jazz and popular music.

Dr. Michael Kahr

Univ.-Prof. Mag.Art. Michael Kahr, M.Mus, Ph.D., is a jazz pianist, composer/arranger, musicologist and artistic researcher, employed as university professor for artistic research, head of the Center for Artistic Research and dean of the music faculty at JAM MUSIC LAB Private University for Jazz and Popular Music in Vienna. He also serves as Senior Lecturer at the Institute for Jazz at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz. He is currently leading the 4-year artistic research project Artistic Research in Jazz and Popular Music: An Artistic-Scientific Cartography of Musical Practices in Vienna.

His publications comprise the award-winning monograph Jazz & the City: Jazz in Graz von 1965 bis 2015, various journal articles and book chapters, articles, CDs and musical scores. Kahr is editor of the volume Artistic Research in Jazz. Positions, Theories, Methods (Routledge, 2022) and co-editor of the ARJAZZ Journal for Artistic Research in Jazz (2025) and the Routledge Companion to Jazz & Gender (2023). Kahr is board member of the International Society for Jazz Research (ISJ), elected member of the AEC PJP Working Group and founder of the International Network for Artistic Research in Jazz (INARJ).

This research day is organised by Matthias Heyman, chair of the research group “Jazz, Improvised Music & Popular Music,” with the support of EhB/KCB and JAM MUSIC LAB – Private University for Jazz and Popular Music Vienna through the Erasmus+ Staff Mobility programme.

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