Bella (Jiarui) Zhang is a PhD researcher in Music Psychology whose doctoral research examines music performance anxiety through the interconnected perspectives of musical identity, evaluative performance cultures, and collaborative free improvisation. Her research explores how musicians experience and make sense of performance anxiety within particular educational and cultural contexts, how these experiences intersect with the construction and negotiation of musical identity, and how free improvisation may offer alternative ways of experiencing musical performance and interaction.

Her broader research interests include music and emotion, musicians' health and wellbeing, music education, and cross-cultural music psychology. Prior to her doctoral research, Bella conducted research on emotional and wellbeing responses to binaural-beat music among listeners in China and the UK. This mixed-methods research was subsequently published in Frontiers in Education. Her previous work has also explored cultural differences in musical emotion perception and international students' use of music during periods of transition and academic stress.

Originally trained as a classical violinist at Xinghai Conservatory of Music in China, Bella later completed an MA in Music Education at the University of York and an MA in Psychology of Music at the University of Sheffield, graduating with Distinction. Her background as a performer and music educator continues to inform her interest in understanding musical experiences across psychological, educational, social, and cultural contexts.

Bella is a member of the Society for Education, Music and Psychology Research (SEMPRE) and the European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music (ESCOM), and is affiliated with the Music in Human and Social Development (MHSD) research group at the University of Edinburgh.

Academic role

PGR Music Student Representative, Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh, 2025–present.

Publications

Zhang, J., & Williamson, V. J. (2026). Emotional and well-being responses to binaural beat music: A mixed-methods exploratory study of cultural background and music preference. Frontiers in Education, 11.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2026.1814906

Selected conference presentations

PAM-IE 2026, University of Ljubljana — Rethinking Music Performance Anxiety: Musical Identity and Free Improvisation. Accepted presentation, October 2026.

SysMus26, Durham University — Lightning Talk, July 2026.

SEMPRE PGR/ECR Conference, University of Cambridge — Poster presentation, April 2026.

Music Education Forum, University of York — Oral presentation, December 2025.

SEMPRE Student Day, University College London — Oral presentation, October 2025.