Luc Nijs

I was born in 1973. At the age of fourteen, I started playing the clarinet. Somewhat naive but passionate about this wonderful instrument, I soon felt that it would become a big part of my life. And indeed, at the age of eighteen, I went to the Brussels Royal Conservatory of Music to become a professional musician. It was the beginning of an exciting journey. I traveled, played competitions/auditions and concerts, ... In 2000, my musical journey almost ended due to a severe car accident. Unable to continue playing the clarinet, I decided to study Western philosophy at Ghent University. Yet another turning point in my life... and it was a very intense period: I combined full time music teaching with my philosophy studies. On top of that, my three sons were born in this period: Elias, Quinten & Tristan. In 2008, I graduated with a thesis on the musician-instrument relationship. Thanks to this thesis, I was granted a scholarship in order to obtain a PhD in Art Sciences (promotor: Prof.  Dr. Marc Leman). And so, a new phase in life was determined. In 2012, I obtained my PhD. After my PhD I went teaching again, worked as postdoc for one year at IPEM (Ghent University), and became researcher and lecturer at LUCA School of Arts (Lemmens). From 2015, I continued my research on instrumental music teaching/learning and embodied musicianship as a postdoctoral researcher at IPEM (7 year contract).​​​

In 2019, I started a new adventure: a PhD in the Arts at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp. This PhD project was discontinued as, from June 2022, I was appointed Associate Professor in Early Childhood Music Education at the University of Luxembourg. I'm also Visiting Professor at Ghent University, affiliated to IPEM and - as co-founder - to the Jonet Academic Chair for Social Action and Music Making.