The purpose of the 34th ISME World Conference 2020 is to foster global understanding and cooperation among the world's music educators, by strengthening ties and sharing ideas about different aspects and issues within music education, in ways that promote music education for people of all ages throughout the world. Given the current global reality, the conference theme Visions of Equity and Diversity is a timely reminder of music’s power to unite our humanity while respecting our differences. Like the ISME World Conference theme reflects, the 28th ISME Research Commission places equity and diversity at the heart of music education research in order to foster evidence-based practices world-wide. At each of our biennial seminars, the Research Commission has sought to: ​ a) examine through research, important issues facing music education worldwide; b) develop, refine and demonstrate a range of research approaches, methods and techniques for critically examining issues in music education; c) provide a forum for communication, critical analysis, and dissemination of research innovations in music education; d) deepen and develop the research knowledge base for practitioners, policy makers, and researchers in music education; and e) bring together early career and experienced researchers from a broad geographic representation, in order to build research capacity and to promote research expertise in all regions of the ISME membership.