About

Bringing a creative and inclusive approach to research in education in order to collaborate with colleagues and professionals in interdisciplinary and diverse areas including: co-research, participatory research, SEND, disability, arts and music pedagogy, student voice, children's music/music for children.

Current and recent research projects include:

Research into Disability Education (RIDE). Exploring the benefits of employing disabled people in ten major employers in the West Midlands.

Young Researchers Young Voices. A three-year co-research project around special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) support.

The three-year Researching Arts in Primary Schools (RAPS) project examined the benefits of an arts-rich education in 40 primary schools in England.

Teaching responsibilities

Leading the Critical Writing workshops for doctoral students.

Currently supervising doctoral students and welcoming others in the intersectional areas of education, music, arts-based research, collaborative research, voice, inclusion, SEND and disability.

Research interests

• Collaborative research
• Intersections of education, childhood, music, arts and media
• SEND
• Disability education and employment

Membership of professional bodies

• Higher Education Academy: Fellow
• BERA: British Educational Research Association
• IASPM: International Association for the Study of Popular Music
• EAS: European Association for Music in Schools
• Association for Research in Cultures of Young People
• Children’s Music Network

Qualifications

Postgraduate

• PhD: Spinning the Child: How Records Made for Children Construct Childhood. Department of Music, University of Liverpool
• MA Popular Music Studies. Institute of Popular Music, University of Liverpool
• Postgraduate Certificate in Education (Post Compulsory Education), Nottingham Trent University
• MPhil: Bioengineering, University of Wales College Cardiff

Undergraduate

• BEng: Mechanical Engineering, University of Wales College Cardiff

British Sign Language (BSL). Level One

Recent conferences

• Using Theory U to understand co-produced SEND research. LICIE: London International Conference on Inclusive Education. 27-29 July 2026.

• A ‘silence’ around SEND: Collaborative SEND research. East Midlands Educational Psychology conference (Keynote). Co-present with Jo Tolley.  2 June 2026.

• Young Researchers Young Voices: Young people with SEND co-researching children and young people with SEND. Co-present with Jo Tolley. LICIE: London International Conference on Inclusive Education. 28-30 July 2025.
• Young Researchers Young Voices: The opportunities and challenges of young people with special educational needs and disabilities co-researching children and other young people with special educational needs and disabilities. Co-present with Jo Tolley.  International Children and Family Conference, University of Bristol. 17-19 June 2025.
• Productive partnerships: The highs and lows of using music to teach Shakespeare in schools. 32nd European Association for Music in Schools Conference, Evora, Portugal. 4-6 June 2025.
• Traditions in transformation: 32nd European Association for Music in Schools Conference,  Dublin, Ireland. 12-15 June 2025.
• Association of Colleges SEND Conference (Keynote). London. 11 December 2024.
• Traditions in transformation: 31st European Association for Music in Schools Conference,  Dublin, Ireland. 12-15 June 2024.
• Ways ahead for children’s music research (Keynote). Inland Norway University of Applied Science. Finnskogtoppen Spa, Norway. 8-10 August 2022.
• The value of children’s participation in Art, Craft and Design Education research. Hybrid Spaces: Re-imagining pedagogy, practice and research. iJADE. Online. 26-28 March 2021.

Experience in industry

Eighteen years as an HE lecturer in Further Education colleges

Major label recording artist in the music industry 1994-1998

Songwriter, recording artist, performer of music for children 2007-present

Additional interests and activities

• Cycling
• Travel
• Culture, media and politics
• Sustainable living
• Songwriting, recording and performing music

Recent publications

• Maloy, L., King, S. and Tolley, J. (eds). 2027. Collaborative research in special education and disability. Bristol: Policy Press (Forthcoming)
• Maloy, L., Tolley, J., Coney, K. and Bell, S. 2026. The RIDE Project Report: Research into Disability Employment.DOI:10.13140/RG.2.2.23808.60162.
• Maloy, L. and Warwick, J. 2026. ‘Pop Rocks and Kids Rock: Children’s Rock Music and Pop Culture’, in E. Weisbard (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Pop Music. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 444-454. doi.org/10.1093/9780197760284.003.0027.
• Thomson, P., Hall, C. and Maloy, L. 2025. RAPS Project: Researching the Arts in Primary Schools. Freelands Foundation. https://artsprimary.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/raps-final-feb-2025--4.pdf.
• Maloy, L. 2025. ‘Auto-Tuning Hannah Montana: Miley Cyrus’s Child Voice and the Technological Subversion of Girlhood’. In, (Eds.) Catherine Howarth and Beth Carroll. Singing Out: The Musical Voice in Audiovisual Media. University of Edinburgh Press. pp.82-94.
• Maloy, L., King, S. and Tolley, J. 2025. Young Researchers Young Voices. Project Report.https://www.researchgate.net/publication/394447746_Young_Researchers_Young_Voices_Co-research_SEND_project_Final_Report.
• Maloy, L., King, S. and Tolley, J. 2025. Young Researchers Young Voices. Resource for SEND Practitioners. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/391519853_Resource_for_SEND_Practitioners.
• Robinson, D., Codina, G., O’Sullivan, L., Ring, E., Catterson, L., Luke, Ni Luanaigh, A., Brett, A., Maloy, L., Matasovska, K. and Shepherd, R. 2025. Investigating the Impact of NCSE Frontline Services from the Perspective of Multiple Stakeholders: Full Technical and Research Report. Trim: NCSE.
• Maloy, L. ‘“The way I know is by looking back”: English primary school children’s views of making progress in arts subjects’. Co-authored with Pat Thomson and Chris Hall. Education 3-13. 24 September 2023. doi.org/10.1080/03004279.2023.2253075.
• Maloy, L. ‘Research subjects, participants or co-researchers? Extending the involvement of students in art and design research’. Co-authored with Pat Thomson. iJADE 42(3): 353-366, 2023. doi.org/10.1111/jade.12470.
• Maloy, L. Spinning the Child: Musical Constructions of Childhood through Records, Radio and Television. London and New York: Routledge. 2021. doi.org/10.4324/9780203702680.

For a full list, visit: www.researchgate.net/profile/Liam-Maloy/research