– This is really good news for research in our region. Through the project, we will improve our PhD-education, and develop socially responsible research to an even stronger degree, says Jill Halstead, who heads Music4Change. She says that there is a strong international anchoring in the project, which includes the University of Edinburgh, ranked as one of the top twenty universities in the world. 

Works across sectors 
According to Halstead, one of the things that makes the project unique is that they will work across sectors, where partners include NGOs in the music field and the music culture sector. The Grieg Academy leads the project and, in addition to the University of Edinburgh, collaborates with the University of Groningen, Gustav Mahler University, the University of Thessaloniki, as well as the NGOs: the European Music Council and Creative Mentorship. 

Builds on the UN's sustainability goals 
The project has three parts, the first of which is European cooperation which will contribute to building doctoral education in music. 

– This will happen through the project moving in different directions, across Europe. We want to create flow between two areas. The first is sustainable development in research. The project follows the UN's sustainability goals, we want to educate researchers in where and how this actually comes into play in how we educate. We want to help build that kind of thinking into research, art in general and music in particular. 

Connected to Erasmus+ 
The second part of the project is digital learning. According to Halstead, inclusion should be developed by starting a digital learning platform. 

– We must create more flexibility and encourage many different people to enter into education. These are the priorities of the Erasmus program and we connect to these. 

The third part of the project is trying to achieve so-called cross-sector work for doctoral research. - We want to anchor and integrate research more into society. One of the reasons why we do this is to strengthen employment for PhD candidates in the music and art field, with guidance across sectors. Concretely, this is done by getting a mentor within your own professional field. The Serbian partner Creative Mentorship will lead this part of the project. The mentor method takes an art-based approach to personal and professional development for PhD candidates. We will work to find mentors in the field where the candidates have studied, and get the research out there. 

Strengthens PhD education in many fields 
Program manager for KMD's PhD program in artistic research, dean for research, Jostein Gundersen, is very happy about the award. – Although the project initially includes PhD candidates in music, we are now in dialogue with project manager Jill Halstead about how the project can be a resource for and strengthen KMD's research education as a whole. 

Research adviser Thomas De Ridder, who has worked with Jill Halstead on the Erasmus+ application, is also very happy that it went through. He says the project will strengthen PhD education in music, but also strengthen the Norwegian model for artistic research in Europe. De Ridder further believes that the project will be an important element, for example, in UiB Ferd because the project directly facilitates strengthening PhD-education, and makes it more relevant for both the cultural sector and the university sector.