Dr Thomas De Baets is Professor in Music Education at LUCA School of Arts in Leuven, Belgium. He is Coordinator of the Bachelor and Master program in Music Education and Chair of the Music Education & Therapy Research Group. He holds a Master’s degree in Music Education (Lemmensinstituut, 2005), a degree of Advanced Studies in Music Education (Lemmensinstituut, 2008), and a PhD in Music Education under the supervision of Professor Mark Reybrouck (KU Leuven, 2012). He is Vice President of the European Association for Music in Schools (EAS) since 2015. As well as his activities in Belgium, he has also lectured abroad. He is guest lecturer in music education research at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague (the Netherlands) and Visiting Professor in the Arts at KU Leuven (Belgium).

Dr Andrea Creech is Reader in Education at UCL Institute of Education. Following an international career in performance and instrumental teaching, Andrea was awarded a PhD in Psychology in Education. Since then she has led extensive funded research concerned with musical learning and participation across the lifespan, including an international literature review for Sistema Global, and the Music for Life Project, funded by the UK Research Councils and winner of the Royal Society for Public Health’s award for research in Arts and Health, 2014. Andrea has presented and published widely on topics concerned with musical development and lifelong learning in the arts. She is a Board member of the International Society for Music Education, Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and Graduate Member of the British Psychological Association.  Andrea is co-author of Active Ageing with Music and co-editor of Music Education in the 21st Century in the UK.

Stefan Gies (born 1954 in Landau / Germany) heads the AEC office in Brussels as its CEO since fall 2015. He is a classical trained viola player, but was active as well as a composer in the field of contemporary music and as a bigband leader and arranger. He worked as a classroom and instrumental teacher and got his doctorate degree in music pedagogy. He was Professor of Music education at Hochschule für Musik Dresden since 1995, chairing this institution as Rector from 2003-2010.

Helena Maffli accomplished her studies in Finland (Sibelius Academy, University of Helsinki) and in the United States (Smith College) and obtained a virtuosity degree in piano and a university degree in human sciences. Since her young age, she has performed widely and internationally as soloist, chamber musician  and accompanist in many different ensembles and repertoires. Helena Maffli accomplished her extensive teacher’s career in piano, didactics and methodology at the Conservatoire de Lausanne, Switzerland, and was the headmaster of this institution from 1999 to 2012. Helena Maffli gives masterclasses, serves as expert and jury member in music education institutions and music competitions and gives conferences all over Europe. Helena Maffli is the president of the European Musicschoolunion (EMU) since 2011.