Mag. Julia FENT, PhD (she/her)
Phone: +43/1/71155-3917
Email: fent@mdw.ac.at
Main research fields:
- linking music therapy and gender studies
- anti-discriminatory perspectives
- social inequality
- qualitative and participatory research approaches
Julia Fent studied voice (Prayner Conservatory, diploma 2006) and music therapy (mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, Mag.a art 2012) in Vienna. In November 2021, she completed her doctoral studies in Gender Studies at mdw with distinction (title of the dissertation: "Anti-discriminatory Perspectives on Music Therapy and its Contexts"). For her dissertation she was awarded the "Herta and Kurt Blaukopf Award for outstanding dissertations at mdw" and the "Award of Excellence" of the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research.
After several years of working as a music therapist at Klinik Penzing (formerly SMZ Baumgartner Höhe – Otto-Wagner-Spital), she worked as a project assistant at the Music and Minorities Research Center at mdw from 2019 to 2023 and has been a research associate at the Music Therapy Research Centre Vienna of the Department of Music Therapy at mdw since 2021. She is also a choralist with the Arnold Schoenberg Choir.
Currently she is project lead for "My Tune. Music therapy from our perspectives," (together with Irene Stepniczka), "REFLEᵃCT: Formulating requirements and potentials for music therapy in the context of social inequalities and mental health," and "SpielRaum schaffen: Gesundheitsfördernde Potenziale von Musiktherapie im Kontext von Wohnungslosigkeit."
Her research interests are anti-discriminatory perspectives, social justice, qualitative and participatory research approaches, and discourse analysis.
Selected publications:
Fent, J. (2022). How Societal Norms and Power Relations are Mediated Through Language: A Critical Discourse Analysis in the Context of a Dissertation Project on Discrimination in Music Therapy [Wie gesellschaftliche Normen und Machtverhältnisse durch Sprache vermittelt werden: Eine kritische Diskursanalyse im Rahmen eines Dissertationsprojekts zu Diskriminierung in der Musiktherapie]. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy, 22(3). https://doi.org/10.15845/voices.v22i3.3400
Fent, J. & Stepniczka, I. (2022). My Tune – "Musiktherapie aus unseren Perspektiven". Musiktherapeutische Umschau, 43(3), 258–260. https://doi.org/10.13109/muum.2022.43.3.258
Fent, J. (2021). Diskriminierungskritische Perspektiven in der Musiktherapie. In T. Stegemann & E. Fitzthum (Hrsg.), Kurzlehrbuch Musiktherapie Teil II: Wiener Ringvorlesung Musiktherapie - Grundlagen und Anwendungsfelder (S. 63–76). Praesens.
Fent, J. (2021). Identität aus gendertheoretischer Sicht: Diskriminierungskritische Überlegungen für die Musiktherapie. Musiktherapeutische Umschau, 42(3), 300–308. https://doi.org/10.13109/muum.2021.42.3.300
Fent, J. (2019). From Researching the Queering Potential of Music Therapy to Queering Music Therapy: An Unexpected Journey. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy, 19(3). https://doi.org/10.15845/voices.v19i3.2684