Diploma in Music, West London Institute of Higher Education; BA (Hons) in Creative and Performing Arts, Manchester Metropolitan University; Ph.D. Irish Academy of World Music and Dance, University of Limerick, Ireland. Dr. Higgins is an internationally active scholar and practitioner of community music, having lectured and led community music projects on numerous continents including Europe, Scandinavia, North America, South America, Africa, Australia, and Malaysia. He received the ‘Outstanding Dissertation Award 2008’ from MENC – The National Association for Music Education’s Adult and Community Music Education SRIG for his dissertation titled Boundary Walkers: Contexts and Concepts of Community Music. He is the senior editor of the International Journal of Community Music, a member of the editorial board of Visions of Research in Music Education and an article reviewer for ACT-Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education and the Musicological Society of Australia. He has served as an officer and board member of various professional organizations and is immediate past-chair of the International Society for Music Education’s Community Music Activity Commission. His articles have been published in ACT-Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education, Classical Guitar, International Journal of Community Music, International Journal of Music Education, Music Education Research, Musiké: The International Journal of Ethnomusicological Studies, and proceedings from various conferences. He also authored the book Samba Drumming: A Handbook for Teachers. Prior university appointments include The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, Irish Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick, and Westminster Choir College of Rider University. His research interests include popular music & informal learning pedagogies, community music, and interdisciplinary arts education.
