About

The Centre for Music Studies (CESEM), formerly Centre for the Study of Sociology and Musical Aesthetics, is a research unit based in Lisbon at NOVA FCSH. It includes associated research teams at the University of Évora, the Polytechnic Institutes in Lisbon and Porto, and independent researchers working elsewhere.

CESEM was founded in 1997 by Mário Vieira de Carvalho and is dedicated to the study of Music and its correlations with other arts and the social and cultural fields. It addresses multiple approaches – namely sociological, aesthetic, historical, philological, compositional, pedagogical, therapeutic, and performative – and engages with the most recent perspectives and methodological trends in the Social and Human Sciences. The centre has achieved international recognition in all these areas through its published output’s high quality and innovative character and holds the classification of Very Good by the FCT. An interdisciplinary approach is favoured through five research groups, eight thematic lines and five laboratories.

Several research projects are financed through national and international programs such as CEEC, Marie Curie Actions, Erasmus+, and a few researchers are part of COST Actions. CESEM is part of IN2PAST, the Associate Laboratory for Research and Innovation in Heritage, Arts, Sustainability, and Territory.

The centre strives to guarantee a good working environment, promoting the integration of researchers at a human and scientific level, gender equality, and transparent evaluation mechanisms.

The general objectives of CESEM (2025-2029) can be summarised as follows:

1. To provide a research environment for international teamwork organised in response to clearly identified scientific and societal priorities.
2. To provide researchers with the opportunity to develop their work in an inclusive and democratic environment, leading to the establishment of tenure-track positions in close alignment with general university policies.
3. To support the research interests of its members and the dissemination of knowledge.
4. To encourage collaborative projects for the study of Portuguese and Latin American music.
5. To continue feeding databases and creating research tools and digital resources, supported by a policy of sustainability.
6. To promote excellence in graduate and postgraduate studies, in close collaboration with the Department of Musicology and affiliated institutions.
7. To promote interdisciplinary work, in particular within the framework of the IN2PAST consortium.

For the period 2025-2029, CESEM’s strategy is structured around the following priorities:

• Strengthening the research staff: Consolidating a strong cohort of highly qualified researchers;
• Advanced training and integration of teaching and research: Continuing to support high-level training at NOVA FCSH and the University of Évora and, through affiliations with IPL and P.PORTO, contributing to the development of future doctoral programmes in the polytechnic sector;
• Promotion of new research projects: Launching internal calls for small research projects to foster innovation and thematic renewal;
• Strengthening interdisciplinarity and societal impact: Enhancing the interdisciplinary dimension and making the expertise developed within IN2PAST available to public institutions and civil society;
• Establishment of a new hub in Mafra: Creating a new centre at the National Palace/Convent of Mafra (UNESCO World Heritage Site), with access to major collections of manuscripts and musical instruments;
• Dissemination of the Thematic History of Music in Portugal and Brazil: Continuing the project launched in 2018–2023, now focused on making its results available to a broad international audience through an online platform integrating texts, recordings, iconography, and maps;
• Leadership in digital resources and emerging research areas: Reinforcing CESEM’s leading role in digital resources and developing research on Mediterranean and Atlantic musical links, cultural transfer, musical iconography, opera, contemporary music, music and literature, music therapy, music and community, music, gender and sexualities, digital cultures, and music in childhood;
• Publishing policy and open access: Together with SPIM and INET-md, continuing to support the Portuguese Journal of Musicology (open access, peer-reviewed). Maintaining the hosting of the NOVA Journal of Contemporary Music and developing CESEM’s book programme, including scores and musicological series, with a strong commitment to open access, and to national and international dissemination.

Alignment of CESEM’s scientific activities with the ODS