Our mission

The Gender, Technology, Participation project was founded to challenge the persistent gender imbalances embedded in the technologies that shape how music is created, performed, recorded, and listened to in the 21st century.

Over the past 80 years, sound technologies have opened up vast possibilities for creativity and participation, whilst both exposing and reproducing a range of gender disparities. From instruments and recording studios to digital platforms and AI systems, there is an urgent need to understand why these inequalities persist and to advocate for technologies that are accessible and inclusive for all—an essential step toward addressing broader gender imbalances in musical life.

To bring about change, we combine research, education, and advocacy. We analyse the historical and structural roots of inequality in music technology; embed inclusive perspectives into education and training; collaborate with industry and policy partners to influence design and practice; and strengthen networks and communities that amplify underrepresented voices in musical life.

We take an intersectional approach, recognising how gender intersects with ethnicity, socio-economic class, age, and dis/ability in shaping access, opportunity, and representation.

Who we are

Gender, Technology, Participation (GTP) is a collaborative research project led by the Grieg Academy (Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design – KMD) and the Centre for Women’s and Gender Research (Faculty of Humanities) at the University of Bergen. The project is funded by the University of Bergen’s Humanities Strategy.

Our team

Project Leader, Grieg Academy

Jill Halstead

Jill Halstead is an associate professor at the Grieg Academy, University of Bergen where she is part of the music therapy research group GAMUT. She is director of the Grieg Research School in Interdisciplinary Music Studies, which provides research education in the west coast region for doctoral candidates in the fields of music therapy, musicology, artistic practice and music education. She gained her PhD in music from the University of Liverpool, UK in 1995. Her research is interdisciplinary and has focused on issues of gender and music, popular music and embodiment. As a musician she specializes in collaborative devising projects often working with dance and film.
Co-lead, Centre for Women’s and Gender Research

Kari Jegerstedt

Kari Jegerstedt is the Director of the Centre for Women’s and Gender Research (SKOK) at the University of Bergen. She holds a PhD in literary studies and gender theory, with a dissertation on Angela Carter’s The Passion of New Eve (2008). Her research interests include psychoanalysis, postmodern fiction, postcolonial studies, queer theory, and South African literature, with a particular focus on Black protest literature.

Jegerstedt is an experienced lecturer and teaches widely in gender studies, while also having taught courses in psychoanalysis. She is an active literary scholar and a familiar contributor to Bergen’s House of Literature, where she leads reading circles, gives lectures, and participates in public debates and literary festivals.

Her research is characterized by a global perspective, combining literary analysis with critical theory. She has held research fellowships in Cape Town and co-edited Exploring the Black Venus Figure in Aesthetic Practices (2019). From 2011 to 2014, she was co-editor of the Journal of Gender Research.

Research assistant

Knut Jonas Sellevold

Knut Jonas Sellevold is a sound artist, researcher, and educator based in Bergen, Norway. He holds a BA in Sound Arts from the London College of Communication, an MA in Ethnomusicology from SOAS University of London, and a teaching qualification from the Grieg Academy in Bergen. His research interests lies at the intersection of sound studies, cultural studies, gender, technology, pedagogy, and ethnomusicology, with a particular focus on music and arts education.
Research assistant

Julie Liisberg

Julie Liisberg (she/her) is a music therapist and research assistant at the University of Bergen. In the GTP project, her role is primarily focused on literature review and database development. Her research interests include gender creativity, queer and intersectional perspectives, and technology’s role in music cultures.