Melanie Herzog: Scientist of the Year in Music Education!

Melanie Herzog: Scientist of the Year in Music Education!

At the end of May 2025, Melanie Herzog received the renowned Sigrid Abel Struth Prize for her dissertation at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt (KU). The award has been presented every two years since 1994 by the Scientific Society of Music Education (WSMP) and is considered the most important prize in German-speaking scientific music education. The award ceremony took place as part of the WSMP annual symposium in Kassel, which took place on May 23rd and 24th. Herzog is being honored for her work entitled “Inclusion as ambivalence. Addressing tensions as a prerequisite for inclusion-sensitive music education,” which was awarded “summa cum laude” in 2023 and will be published in January 2025.

In her dissertation, Herzog plays a central role in the music education inclusion discourse. In particular, she examines the general positive assessment of inclusion in music education and develops a reflected understanding of inclusion. This highlights contradictions that need to be taken into account in the context of inclusion. Her empirical studies include, among other things, video analyzes of group music-making situations, in which it becomes clear that exclusion and inclusion are closely intertwined. Herzog argues that acknowledging these contradictions is central to music education.

Award ceremony and meaning of the award

The Sigrid Abel Struth Prize promotes outstanding scientific work in the field of music education and has established itself as an important recognition for young academics. The total prize money is 500 euros. Before Herzog, for example, Anne Günster and Rico Hepp were honored for their dissertations, which dealt with different aspects of music education. Herzog is particularly highlighted in this context as the 2025 award winner.

The “Inclusive Education” graduate school, in which Herzog was actively involved, made a significant contribution to the development of her dissertation. The connection to the KU is further underlined by a scholarship from the Eichstätter University Foundation. She is currently completing her legal traineeship in Munich, after previously studying high school teaching with the subjects of music and mathematics at the Ludwig Maximilians University (LMU) in Munich.

Inclusive approach to music education

In the context of her research, there are also new approaches to inclusion-sensitive music education, which are supported by the interactive cooperation project “musikklusiv”. This project, which involves the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, the Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences and the Würzburg University of Music, among others, aims to create an information and networking platform for inclusive music education research. The platform serves to constantly, interactively expand the information base and is aimed at scientists, institutions, practitioners and those interested in shared exchange.

Herzog's work is seen as an important contribution to a differentiated discussion about inclusion in music education and represents a significant step in an increasingly complex subject area. Since January, the professional public has had the opportunity to express their opinions Dissertation in the open access version to read, which will further promote the accessibility of their insights.