Liesl van der Merwe

Liesl van der Merwe is a professor in the School of Music and MASARA at the North-West University, South Africa. Her research interests lie in the fields of music and well-being, positive psychology, music and spirituality, Dalcroze Eurhythmics, and lived musical experiences. Liesl supervises qualitative postgraduate music studies in the field of music education and also teaches research methodology, music education and bassoon. She has published articles in high-impact journals. Currently, Liesl is a National Research Foundation (NRF) rated researcher. She completed the research project: Social Cohesion Through Community Music Engagement in South African Higher Music Education. She was one of the volume editors of the Peter Lang book: Ritualised Belonging: Musicing and Spirituality in the South African Context. Liesl is on the steering and scientific committees of the Music, Spirituality and Wellbeing International Network (MSW) and was vice-chair of the scientific committee of The International Conference of Dalcroze Studies (ICDS) from 2021 till 2023.Liesl was one of the keynote speakers at the ICDS5 conference. She has also recently been invited, by the series editor, Prof Liora Bresler, to be on Springer's Editorial Board of the Landscapes: The Arts, Aesthetics, and Education book series, and she was the guest editor of a special edition on positive psychology and music education in the International Journal of Education and the Arts.

She also performs as a bassoonist in chamber music ensembles and is the conductor of the North-West Youth Orchestra.