Dr. Guadalupe López-Íñiguez is a Spanish researcher, cellist, and educator whose interdisciplinary work bridges music performance, educational psychology, and pedagogy. Her career is dedicated to supporting musicians across all stages of development—nurturing their physical and cognitive development, supporting their socio-emotional wellbeing, and fostering artistry, resilience, and social responsibility.
She holds a permanent position as University Researcher in Instrumental Pedagogy and Performance Science at the Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki in Finland—one of the world’s leading institutions for music research and education. Since 2009, she has led or collaborated in multiple national and international research projects and received recognition through numerous awards and honorary titles, including Honorary Senior Fellow at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music and Docent (Associate Professor habilitation) at the Sibelius Academy.
As an Academy Research Fellow funded by the Research Council of Finland, Dr. López-Íñiguez currently leads the major international project “The Politics of Care in the Professional Education of Children Gifted for Music” (2022–2027). This initiative explores how caring educational ecosystems can support gifted children in music to develop into healthy, agentic individuals while pursuing excellence and professionalism. Her broader research expertise also includes constructivist pedagogy and conceptual change, lifelong learning, musicians’ career development and employability, identity, motivation, wellbeing, and the psychology of music performance.
Dr. López-Íñiguez is co-editor of Learning and Teaching in the Music Studio – A Student-Centred Approach (Springer, 2022), Research Perspectives on Music Education in Ibero-America (Routledge, 2025), and Caring for Gifted and Talented Music Learners (Oxford University Press, in press). She has authored over 50 peer-reviewed publications, including journal articles, book chapters, and scholarly essays with leading academic publishers. Her expertise is widely sought after in the international research community—as a keynote speaker, peer reviewer, and expert advisor for academic journals, doctoral programs, research councils, and scientific committees.
As a classically trained cellist, she brings first-hand experience to her academic work. Her albums of the complete cello works by Gabrielli and Scarlatti (2018) and Mendelssohn (2019), released by Alba Records, received critical acclaim. She has performed at leading venues and festivals across Europe and the U.S., and continues to appear occasionally as a chamber musician on baroque, classical, and modern cellos.
In addition to her research and artistic activities, Dr. López-Íñiguez is deeply committed to doctoral education and mentorship. At the Sibelius Academy, she supervises doctoral researchers pursuing innovative, interdisciplinary projects in music education and performance studies—empowering the next generation of scholars to create meaningful, transformative impact in the arts and beyond.
