Dr. Avi Gilboa is Heads the Music Department at Bar-Ilan University (BIU). His fields of expertise are music therapy and social and psychological aspects of music. Dr. Gilboa is currently head of the music department and in addition, acting head of the music therapy program at BIU and head of the music therapy program at the Haredy College in Jerusalem. Dr. Gilboa publishes in various journals and books in the fields of music therapy and psychology of music. He lectures in international conferences affiliated to the World Federation of Music Therapy (WFMT), The European Music Therapy Confederation (EMTC), the Nordic Music Therapy Confederation (NMTC) and the Israeli arts association (YAHAT). He is frequently invited to give lectures and workshops in music therapy programs around the world.

My research interests revolve around several main axes:

1. Music therapy, development of models: here I work, together with research students (master's and third degree) on the development of modern therapeutic models and examine how to apply them in the field in a beneficial way and in a way that will allow their continued development. In this vintage, we can mention the development of a model for creating musical life stories with elders which I developed together with Naomi Levy in her thesis and now - in her doctoral thesis, the development of a model for implementing a school radio in a school for children with intellectual disabilities together with Nir Seri, a PhD student.

2. Music therapy, theoretical: here I am working on an understanding of processes relevant to the field of music therapy which have a touch on different and varied theories. This includes a number of research papers on the psychological significance of musical instruments, issues of religious identity and faith among music therapists, dilemmas among ultra-Orthodox music therapists, and more. Here, too, my work is in collaboration with research students in the third master's degree.

3. The psychology of music: here I work on a variety of areas that relate less to music therapy and more to the seam between music and psychology. For example, research on music and emotions, research on counterfeiting, research on the meaning of music in the womb, and more.