Dr Jo Collinson Scott is a Reader in music at the University of the West of Scotland where she researches songwriting in popular music. She is currently Co-Investigator on a major UK research council funded project—Distant Voices: Coming Home—which explores songwriting in the criminal justice system in the UK as a means to support change and encourage public dialogue around reintegration.
Her past projects involving the use of songwriting to understand issues of social importance include the AHRC-funded project Fields of Green, which investigated the environmental impact of music festivals and the relationship of artists, audiences, and live music organisers in addressing this. Her writing on songwriting has been included in the Cambridge Companion to the Singer-Songwriter, Bloomsbury’s Singer- Songwriter Handbook, and Cambridge University Press’s Popular Music Journal, among many others.
She is also a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist (performing under the name Jo Mango).