Summary
Dr George Waddell is an honorary Research Associate in the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London. He is Performance Research and Innovation Fellow in the Centre for Performance Science, a partnership of Imperial and the Royal College of Music. He is also the RCM Area Leader in Performance Science. His research focusses on understanding and optimising how performers learn and are evaluated, including decision-making among judges, the development of evaluative skills, and how technology can be used to enhance how performance is assessed and learned.
George works closely with experts across fields to examine parallels in performance practice and to develop and deliver bespoke performance training to students and professionals, including stage presentation skills, managing performance anxiety, and working creatively under pressure. As RCM Area Leader in Performance Science he oversees a range of BMus modules ensuring that students benefit from the latest research and scientific knowledge in their training. He designs and leads courses on scientific research methods, the psychology of performance, enterprise and innovation, professional skills, musicians’ health and wellbeing, and the science and practice of performance evaluation. He is a coauthor of the research methods textbook Performing Music Research (Oxford University Press) and serves as a consultant on external research projects.
George holds a PhD in Performance Science from the RCM. He completed his BMus and MMus in piano performance at Brandon University (Canada) while studying psychology. He was awarded the Brandon University Gold Medal for the Master of Music Degree, was a recipient of the Manitoba Graduate Scholarship, and holds an ARCT Diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. He is a Consulting Editor for the journal Musicae Scientiae and an Associate Editor for Frontiers in Performance Science.