Chamari Upeksha Wedamulla

Chamari Wedamulla is a PhD researcher in music education at Kingston University. Having worked as a music teacher in mainstream and special needs schools in the UK and in Sri Lanka, her research focuses on interdisciplinary, intercultural and inclusive music teaching practices.

Her current research areas include studying the intersectionalities of music education and music therapy, and the ways in which current musical pedagogies and music therapy practices can be integrated in order to provide health-oriented benefits in educational contexts. She took part in Kingston University's, “Rose Award” winning project, "Taking Race Live" as a research assistant in collaboration with Music, Sociology, Dance and Media departments. The project addressed a variety of issues related to race, ethnicity and culture within HE and generated academic confidence in students, raising levels of employability, engagement with others across different disciplines.

Chamari is also a committee member of the EDIMS (Equality, Diversity & Inclusion in Music Studies), a cross-organisational network which aims to promote, support and share good practice in Higher Education music in the UK. She has chaired and presented in a range of conferences including those organised by MusicHE (previously known as NAMHE), RMA, BFE and the AHRC Network's "Women's Musical Leadership Online Network".

Chamari has taught in a range of settings including undergraduate and postgraduate courses at Kingston University and she has expanded her HE teaching practice and networking to overseas, having recently started delivering online lectures and workshops on music education and special educational needs for the staff and students of Sri Lanka’s University of Visual and Performing Arts in Colombo and Christ University in Bangalore, India.