Dancers from the Bhairavi Dance Group perform at the Harmony Hub Research Lab launch.
A new research initiative exploring how music and storytelling can support migrant health and wellbeing has launched at Edith Cowan University's (ECU's) City Campus.
The Harmony Hub Research Lab, unveiled at Spectrum Gallery on Thursday 19 March, will bring together researchers, artists and community partners to investigate how musical storytelling can strengthen belonging, reduce loneliness and improve mental wellbeing among culturally diverse communities.
Dr Catherine Gough-Brady & Dr Manonita Ghosh
Led by Dr Manonita Ghosh and Dr Catherine Gough-Brady, the interdisciplinary hub is the first research initiative in Australia dedicated to exploring musical storytelling engagement as a form of social prescribing, or holistic healthcare, for migrant health.
Dr Ghosh said the Harmony Hub provides a collaborative platform to better understand how creative cultural practices can support emotional and social wellbeing in an increasingly diverse Australia.
"Through the Harmony Hub we are studying how music engagement and storytelling influence emotional and mental wellbeing, particularly for migrant and culturally diverse communities," Dr Ghosh said.
"We bring together researchers, community members, artists and organisations to co-design projects so that the work is culturally grounded and meaningful to the people involved."
The hub will work with Perth's migrant communities to explore how music and storytelling support identity, belonging and intergenerational connection.
Research activities will include participatory music workshops, community performances and collaborative filmmaking projects designed to help communities reflect on and share their experiences.
Dr Gough-Brady said filmmaking would play an important role in supporting storytelling and wellbeing.
"In previous projects I worked with older Australians who wanted everything done with them, not for them," Dr Gough-Brady said.
"That approach shaped my filmmaking practice, listening to communities first and then creating works that respond to their needs. Through the Harmony Hub we hope to build similar collaborative storytelling projects with Perth's migrant communities."
The Let's Sing Together Choir perform at the Harmony Hub Research Lab Launch.
The launch coincided with Harmony Day and featured performances from the Let's Sing Together Choir and the Bhairavi Dance Group, community collaborators who will also be involved in the research.
Dr Ghosh said the initiative aims to address a key gap in migrant health research by focusing on the social factors that influence wellbeing.
"Much migrant health research focuses on clinical or settlement issues," she said.
"But loneliness, cultural identity and intergenerational connection are also critical to wellbeing. If music and storytelling can strengthen community ties and reduce isolation, they should be recognised as meaningful tools for health."
The Harmony Hub forms part of the ECU Migration, Diversity and Care Research Program led by Professor Loretta Baldassar, which also includes the Social Ageing (SAGE) Futures Lab, the TRACS Diversity Research Network and the Rainbow Migrant Living Lab.
Professor Loretta Baldassar.
Professor Baldassar said these entities are united by a shared mission to place social health and social care service delivery at the heart of research examining ageing across the life course.
"This involves bringing social science and humanities disciplines into dialogue with medical and allied health approaches to ageing," she said.
The next Harmony Hub event is a collaboration with Bangali Society for Puja and Culture WA Inc. to celebrate Poyla Baishakh (Bangla New Year) on 11 April, 2026.
