Catharina Renate Christophersen

Field of work

Catharina Christophersen is Professor of Music Education and a Distinguished University Teacher.  She holds a doctorate in music education from the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, and she also has a background as a music teacher in schools and in municipal schools of performing arts. She teaches music education, research methods and research ethics, and supervises master's and PhD theses.

Catharina is the Leader of the faculty's interdisciplinary forum for PhD fellows (Stipendiatforum) and Head of Music at Campus Kronstad. She has previously led the research group Culture-Criticism-Community and served as a Research Program Leader at the faculty. She has been a member of the faculty’s Research Ethics Committee and is currently a member of the Faculty Research and Innovation Committee. She is active in the field of music education research as Chair of the Norwegian forum for research in music education (FoMuP), and one of the editors of the podcast MusikkPed Podden. 

She was  the Principal Investigator of the research project "Music Teacher Education for the Future" (FUTURED 2019-2022), which was financed by the Norwegian Research Council. 

Recent publications: 

• Christophersen, C. & Onsrud, S. V. (2026). Transitioning from music teacher education to work life: Spatially situated possible selves. British Journal of Music Education, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0265051726100837  
• Kenny, A. & Christophersen, C. (2026). Searching for spaces of encounter and disorientation: Teachers' lived experiences of music in diverse classrooms. Research Studies in Music Education. https://doi.org/10.1177/1321103X261428699
• Christophersen, C. (2026). Vitskaping som refleksiv praksis. I E. Eidsvik & E. Bugge (Red.), Vitskapsteori for lærarstudentar (pp. 57-74). Samlaget
• Sørbø, E. & Christophersen (2025). Explicit cultures - music education in an accelerated world. Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education 24(7), 139-161. https://doi.org/10.22176/act24.7.139
• Bjørnevoll, S. & Christophersen, C. (2025). Embracing complexity in music education: rethinking practice,knowledge, and learning. Music Education Research. https://doi.org/10.1080/14613808.2025.2593378
• Aróstegui, J.L., Christophersen, C., Nichols, J., & Matsunobu, K. (2024.). The SAGE Handbook of School Music Education. SAGE (forthcoming).
• Christophersen, C., Holdhus, K. & Kenny, A. (2024). Third Space Moments: Exploring a university-school partnership through collaborative action research. Teaching and Teacher Education 141, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2024.104499  

Courses taught 

• PhD program "Studies of Bildung and Didactic Practices"
• Primary and Lower Secondary School Teacher Education
• After-school pedagogy
• Music pedagogy
• Music didactics
• Philosophy of science
• Qualitative research methods
• Research ethics

Research areas

• Music in schools
• Music teacher education
• Partnerships
• Policy studies
• Social justice in music education
• Sustainability in music education
• Complexity in music education
• Educational change

Research groups

• Culture, Criticism, Community
• Compete​​​​​​​