Dee is a Senior Lecturer in Community Music at the University of Edinburgh. She studied composition with Nigel Osborne. She is passionate about the creation of music and its power to engender ‘community’. She has been commissioned by a wide range of arts organisations including Opera North, Share Music,  London Symphony Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Magnetic North, Scottish Ballet, LiveMusicNow, The Scottish Executive, Dumbworld, Creative Scotland, and The Wellcome Trust.

She has been nominated by the British Academy of Composers (now the Ivors) for Festus, Supposer Life, Watching, and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner awards. In 2012, she was awarded the Principal’s Medal for her music education and outreach work. Between 2000 and 2005, she served as the UK coordinator for War Child in the Caucasus, implementing a creative arts training programme for social workers and psychologists working with children suffering from trauma. Dee continues to work across cultures and within marginalised communities both locally and internationally. She established a long-term research project for primary-aged children using immersive art projects to enhance literacy and language development in The Gambia, West Africa. Since 2016, Dee’s focus has been on working with children living in challenging circumstances as refugees. The' Windows on the World' programme is a creative arts initiative to support children living in protracted displacement in collaboration with the Greek Ministry of Migration and Asylum.  It has been active since 2017 firstly with SolidarityNow/UNICEF. 

Current Research Interests

My practice-based research explores the intersection of several diverse concerns, including performing arts outreach, community development, creative arts therapies, and conflict resolution. It focuses on understanding and applying current scientific and theoretical frameworks to investigate musicality. The creative engagement at the heart of this work leads to the production of new art and transformative experiences for the communities involved. Our recent impact reports demonstrate that a fully immersive ‘arts’ experience for young people significantly benefits them both socially and educationally. My research primarily revolves around two areas: connecting communities in the UK through musical engagement and developing a sustainable creative arts methodology for children experiencing prolonged displacement.

My creative output includes orchestral, chamber, and choral compositions, as well as music theatre, with commissions from major arts organisations. [see list of works]
Research into the musical and social practices within traditional songs from the cultures of West Africa, the Republic of Georgia, and other Eastern European traditions.
Recent collaborations have involved implementing multi-disciplinary arts projects within communities, aiming to foster cohesion in a diverse society, primarily focusing on children.
The study of indigenous vocal styles in The Gambia, particularly female singers from the Bambara, Malinke, and Wassoulou peoples.
Investigating the impact of creative arts interventions for children living in prolonged displacement (focusing on Greece) — Windows on the World 2016 - present.

Musical Composition, Music in the Community, Ethnomusicology, Community Arts Practice, Performance

Outputs include orchestral, chamber, and choral works, as well as music theatre, with commissions from major arts organisations such as the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Ensemble, Glasgow Tron Theatre, Perth Concert Hall, and Magnetic North Theatre Company.

Research into the musical and social practices within traditional song in the cultures of West Africa, the Republic of Georgia, and other Eastern European traditions.

• Compositional research into the musical and social practices within marginalised communities 

• Orpheus in the Gardens - a new opera for Music Network Dublin - May 2026
• Igor the bird who couldn't sing - by Satoshi Kitamura, with music by Dee Isaacs - a mini musical for WOTW - Greece - 2025
• Festus - a chamber opera for WOTW - Greece - 2025
• The Tin Forest - WOTW Greece - 2025
• Your Life is a Work of Art – WOTW – Greece - 2025
• Shoes - My name is Ali - a film by Iulian Furtuna and Dee Isaacs - in progress
• How we live, how we breathe - a new commission for the Ulster Orchestra/Dumbworld with Anaka Women's Group - March 2025
• Shhh... - a puppet and music retelling for WOTW - Greece - 2024
• Sea Trees - a music and art installation for WOTW - Greece - 2024
• The sky has no borders - a project devised by Dee Isaacs with refugee families based in Northern Ireland (Dumbworld and the Unboxed festival) - 2023
• The Rime of the Ancient Mariner - a retelling for our times - promenade opera, children's chorus - Old College, University of Edinburgh - 2019
• Watching - an opera about sleeplessness in collaboration with Oxford Brookes University and the Royal Botanic Garden for performance in March 2015. 
• Memories are Made of This – inspired by the Alasdair Hopwood exhibition at the Talbot Rice Gallery in March 2013  
• The study of indigenous vocal styles and voice-production techniques of women from Mali and the Gambia, in particular, female singers from the Bambara, Malinke, and Wassoulou tribes.  Currently preparing an annotated collection of traditional songs from these regions.
• Big Boat– 2016 - 2019 working in The Gambia, West Africa -community music students from the University of Edinburgh, teachers and pupils from Deeper Life School are involved in a 3-year research project using music as a tool for enhanced learning of literacy skills.

• Project Management & Fundraising: Directed all "Music in the Community" productions, fostering collaborations with key Edinburgh arts organizations, including the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and the National Museums of Scotland.
• Student Placement Supervision: Established a city wide placement scheme across the social and educational sectors within the City of Edinburgh  -  supervised, and assessed student placements across diverse national and local organizations. Managed relationships with partners such as The City of Edinburgh Council (Education and Social Work), Multi-Cultural Family Base, Sikh Sanjog, Saughton Prison, the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, and various special educational institutions (Rowanfield, Oaklands, Prospect Bank, Howden Hall).

Responsible for project management and fundraising of all Music in the Community productions in collaboration with the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, National Museums of Scotland and other key arts organisations in Edinburgh.

Responsible for setting up and supervising/assessing student placements with national and local organisations including The City of Edinburgh Council – Education and Social Work departments, local organisations such as Multi-Cultural Family Base, Sikh Sanjog, Rowanfield Special School, Oaklands Special School, Howden Hall centre for young offenders, Prospect Bank Special School, Saughton Prison, Royal Hospital for Sick children.

ECA Senior Tutor 2019 - 2022