AIRE 2025 Through a Student’s Eyes: Linking Music Research, Teaching & Learning Practice and IN.TUNE’s Emerging Knowledge Hub

By René Wynants, IN.TUNE Student Council member and student representative in the Committee of Work Package 4 Strengthening Our Research Dimension

On 3–4 November, the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna hosted the first edition of AIRE – Annual IN.TUNE Research in Education Event: a two-day conference bringing together researchers, teachers and students from the eight partner institutions of the IN.TUNE European Alliance.

The gathering marked an important milestone in the alliance’s growing collaboration around music research and its resonance in educational practices across IN.TUNE universities, and introduced a new shared infrastructure – the IN.TUNE Knowledge Hub.

A new space for research in music and art education

AIRE was conceived as a meeting ground where (artistic) research could be experienced in all its forms. Rather than a traditional academic conference with set lectures, it offered a vibrant exchange centred on artistic and scientific research practices and how they feed back into learning & teaching realities.

Participants presented their research through performance, improvisation, and reflection, making the creative process itself visible. This approach highlighted how knowledge in the arts is generated through artistic action, pedagogy, critical reflection, and dialogue.

The sessions in Vienna showed the diversity of research in music: practice-based and theoretical, individual and collective. What united all contributions was a shared curiosity about how the arts can generate and communicate new forms of knowledge to use in artistic, research and pedagogical practices.

Alex Hofmann,  member of the working group on Research Areas and Environments, and professor at the Department of Music Acoustics – Wiener Klangstil (mdw), described it as:

“We wanted to create a platform where different approaches, i.e. scientific, artistic, theoretical, and practical, could exist side by side, so people could see that the real differences lie in methodology, not in the intent to generate knowledge.”

The Knowledge Hub: building a research community

Alongside AIRE, the alliance is developing the IN.TUNE Knowledge Hub, a shared environment for researchers to exchange knowledge, develop ideas and collaborate across institutions.

The Knowledge Hub acts as the central point of a moving wheel: a space where partners come together and from which new collaborations can grow. In practice, it has two components: a communication platform, with mailing lists and online meetings; and a digital environment where projects and multimedia content can be shared and developed.

The first hub, focused on Research Areas and Environments, is already active. Two more will follow in the coming years – one on Research Education and Supervision (2026) and one provisionally titled Improved Access to Research (2027).

This evolving structure ensures that collaboration extends beyond the annual event, developing into a sustainable network of shared knowledge and practice.

A growing community

AIRE demonstrated that research is more than a collection of individual projects: it is a shared field built on exchange and dialogue. Participants emphasised the importance of a community of practice – an open, flexible community where different artistic perspectives can coexist and enrich one another.

Therese Kaufmann, Head of the Research Support Unit (mdw) and Work Package 4 committee member, stated:

“Before the event, the Knowledge Hub was still an unclear concept. But now it makes sense — the questions are there, the content is there, and the research creation is there on many different levels. We can really offer that to everyone in our institutions, as something that can open up new avenues in learning, teaching, supervision, and even leadership and strategic development.”

The Knowledge Hub aims to support such a community not only during events like AIRE, but also throughout the year. It provides space for meeting, collaboration and sharing methodologies, forming a first step towards a sustainable European network for research in music.

At the event’s opening, Juha Ojala, Professor at the Sibelius Academy, Uniarts Helsinki, and Work Package 4 committee chair, described the opportunities for AIRE:

“We find ourselves in a triple nexus of opportunities for transformation: the alliance as a process of learning and structural change; the strengthening of research as a means for sustainable renewal in education and the arts; and AIRE as the moment where strategy turns into practice.”

Looking ahead

Following the successful first edition in Vienna, AIRE will be hosted by a different partner city each year. Through these annual gatherings, and the ongoing work of the Knowledge Hub, IN.TUNE continues to build a European network of knowledge, imagination and collaboration in research – one that connects institutions, disciplines and people across borders.