Name: Bella (Jiarui) Zhang 
PhD Title: Rethinking Music Performance Anxiety: Musical Identity, Evaluative Performance Cultures, and Free Improvisation
Department: Reid School of Music
Supervisors: Prof Raymond MacDonald & Prof Katie Overy
Email: bella.zhang@ed.ac.uk
Biography
Bella (Jiarui) Zhang is a PhD student in Music Psychology at the Reid School of Music, Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh. Originally trained as a violinist at Xinghai Conservatory of Music in China, she completed an MA in Music Education at the University of York and an MA in Music Psychology at the University of Sheffield, graduating with Distinction.
Bella’s doctoral research explores how evaluative cultures within classical music shape musicians’ identities and experiences of music performance anxiety. She is particularly interested in how collaborative free improvisation may provide an alternative context for supporting musical identity. Her current research focuses on classical music students in China.
Her broader research interests include music psychology, music education, musicians’ health and wellbeing, qualitative research methods, and cross-cultural perspectives on music.
Selected publication
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, 1814906. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2026.1814906