Gabrielle Killen studied at the University of New South Wales, Australia, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science, majoring in Psychology, in 2019. Her undergraduate degree focused solely on clinical and operational psychology, where she discovered her interest for studying mental processes and how they are linked to human function and behaviour.

From a young age, Gabrielle has taken piano lessons, played flute in her high school band, and accompanied herself singing at various school and university events. While she still enjoys singing and performing as a hobby, she is focusing on incorporating music into her research career.

With the opportunity of starting a Masters in Music Psychology at the University of York, Gabrielle is able to combine her passion for music with research, and explore the complexity of emotional engagement with music and how it reflects lived experience. She hopes to further research into emotional regulation, and is particularly interested in how individuals use music to establish self-identity, strengthen interpersonal relationships, and the use of music as a coping mechanism.

Hailing from the American Midwest, Connor Kirts has developed a interdisciplinary mix of musical, technical, and research skills in order to assist his community in creating music. He graduated from the University of Nebraska-Omaha in 2020, with a Bachelor of Arts in Music, focusing in Music Technology. During which he was the lead audio technician and studio manager for the department, responsible for archival recordings, live sound reproduction, maintenance of studio equipment, and the instruction of studio use.

At UNO, Connor produced a series of compositions aimed at highlighting musical characteristics. This includes: Soft Words, a piece for prepared toy piano and delayed voice; Guitar for MAX, an interactive diffusion of guitar timbre; and Suite from Soundtrack+, a series of spatialized pitch and harmonic testing material. The aforementioned suite is derived from research Connor conducted: Soundtrack+: Measuring, Predicting, and Applying Affect of Multichannel Patterns into Composition, which has been published in the 2019 ICMC confrence proceedings.

As a member of the IATSE Union, he has been involved with the Omaha Symphony, Midwestern Ballet Company, productions of Hamilton, Wicked, La bohème, Tosca, concerts by Chance the Rapper, Cher, Coldplay, and many more. Within the Omaha community, Connor has fulfilled many roles; as a audio technician for the Omaha Conservatory of Music, and Slowdown; as an instructor for Papillion La-Vista South High School band, and UNO Techademy; as the registrar for the Omaha Conservatory of Music; and as the Technical Director of the Omaha Under the Radar Festival.

Through the observation of people at thousands of concerts, Connor became interested in the perception of music and it's emotional impact on individuals. This brought him to the University of York to obtain a Masters in Music Psychology.