Runa Hestad Jenssen (PhD) is an associate professor at the Faculty of Arts and Education at Nord University (Norway) and is deeply dedicated to exploring voices. With a background as a classically trained soprano from Barratt Due Music Institute and the Norwegian Academy of Music, Runa has a versatile performance career that spans folk music, baroque, opera, and contemporary repertoire. She has performed extensively as a soloist with choirs and orchestras both nationally and internationally and as a member of The Norwegian Soloists’ Choir.

Runa’s teaching and research focus on voice, inclusive music education practices, music and gender, difference, embodiment, and the sociopolitical dimensions of singing. Her research employs performative autoethnography and storytelling, bridging personal and professional experiences while drawing on feminist posthuman philosophies of thinking. She delves into pedagogical difference, rethinking voice pedagogy, and uncovering new ontologies of voice, inviting musicians, teachers, and researchers to challenge conventional practices and engage in transformative dialogue.

Runa has published articles and book chapters in scientific and international journals and holds leadership roles as a board member of the Fulbright Alumni Association and board leader of the Norwegian Forum for Research in Music Education. She is currently a researcher and project manager in the Horizon Europe project dialoguing@rts, which involves 8 countries working to create performing arts education contexts that enhance cultural literacy to promote social cohesion and inclusion. She has also been a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 

In the TEAM project, Runa is involved as a researcher in Work Package 4.