At the 2016 General Assembly Canada's Susan O'Neill was announced as the new president elect for ISME.

Susan O’Neill is Professor of Music Education and Director of Research for Youth, Music and Education (RYME) at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada. Her degrees are from Canada and the UK in music performance (BMus, MA), education (MA) and music psychology (PhD). For over 20 years, she has taught at universities in Canada, Portugal, Hong Kong, UK and USA, and held visiting fellowships at the University of Michigan (2001-03), University of Melbourne (2012), and Trinity College Dublin (2015). Her longstanding record of service to music education includes working with national and international advisory groups, developing instrumental music teacher education programs, and providing professional development workshops and seminars in 10 countries. Susan joined ISME in 1996, presenting at the ISME Early Childhood Music Education Commission, and in subsequent years at the ISME Research Commission and World conference. In 2012, she was elected ISME Research Commissioner and appointed to the ISME Advocacy Standing Committee. She is Senior Editor of the Canadian Music Educators’ Association (CMEA) book series Research to Practice, and serves on the editorial boards of Research Studies in Music Education, Music Education Research, and Psychology of Music among others. She has published widely, including 14 chapters in Oxford University Press books, such as The Oxford Handbook of Music Education (McPherson & Welch, 2012) and the MENC Handbook of Research in Music Learning (Colwell & Webster, 2011). She has been awarded major grants for international collaborative research and developed Music Learning in Action and Unity Through Music advocacy and intercultural programs in Brazil and Canada.