PRIhME (Power Relations in Higher Music Education) is a strategic partnership of 9 institutions who will examine the issue of power relations in the higher music education (HME) sector. It has come to light in recent decades that systemic power relations inequalities are embedded in most higher music education institutions (HMEIs). Some have been well documented in media coverage of criminal abuse cases involving leadership and faculty, and in student and staff surveys. At their extreme, such power abuses include discrimination, segregation, racism, bullying and violence. However, power relations in the music context are more nuanced and complex than those examples alone. Training professional musicians involves working with questions of, for example, musical repertoire, performance practice, interpretation and the position of musicians in the hierarchies of orchestras, conservatoires and opera houses. Instances of abuse and discrimination are enacted in and through various music-making practices and in teaching, and are related to how students and teachers perceive and pass on (unarticulated and therefore often unquestioned) musical traditions and discourses of interpretation. Even answering the question of what is good, worthwhile and meaningful music is a matter of power enactment.To address this systemic issue, the methodology PRIhME will use is the Citizens' Assembly model, based on common values, principles of equity and civic engagement. PRIhME’s 9 partners will put forward participants for a series of 'Stakeholders' Assemblies modelled on formats of deliberative democracy used in Ireland and the Netherlands. Led by an independent Chair, 50-member assemblies will examine the issue of power relations in HME. They will include HME students, faculty, administrators and arts professionals. 9 PRIhME partners were carefully selected to ensure diversity of experiences, insights and expertise. Special attention was given to their geographical spread, social and cultural background, expertise in social inclusion and civic engagement, as well as their experience in developing intellectual outputs such as critical publications. The lead partner, Royal Irish Academy of Music, comes from a country that has a strong background in citizens' assemblies. The AEC, as project manager of PRIhME, brings experience in running major EU-funded projects with dissemination tools that reach its 300 conservatoire members.The activities of PRIhME are concentrated around focused discussions in 4 in-person stakeholders' assemblies supported by 4 online meetings. The dissemination of outcomes beyond the individuals and institutions directly involved in these meetings is further ensured by establishing an open source digital platform for resource sharing, production of an academic publication (based on expert reports and assembly data with resolutions and policy documents for the HME sector), transnational training, teaching and learning activities for partners, multiplier events aimed at reaching the wider arts sector, as well as transnational project meetings to plan and implement the assemblies.The expected impact of PRIhME on participants and their organisations will be achieved by strenghtening the cooperation and networking between organisations around the issues of power relations, thus leading to the reduction in segregation and discrimination in HME for marginalised individuals and communities inspired by tools, publications and resources. PRIhME training and dissemination will contribute to the empowerment of music professionals with better understanding of intricacies of power relations thus preparing them to teach and administer while upholding equity, diversity and inclusion as key values and guiding principles. All of these impacts will as a consequence lead to more healthy and sustainable careers for both the stakeholders within HME and their graduates. The wider impact of PRIhME at local, regional, national, European and international levels lies in the transferability of the subject and methodology. PRIhME will raise awareness of power imbalances in HME, encouraging wider HE organisations to reflect on similar issues in their own structures. Deliberative democracy can be tested in PRIhME as a means for HE to address difficult topics, and HME can become a model for other sectors when addressing issues of segregation and discrimination, and upholding equity, diversity and inclusion.A key result of PRIhME is to give HMEIs a true understanding of the traditions and norms we perpetuate that can create power inequities. Based on this groundbreaking analysis, and supported sectoral advocacy and training, the longer term result of PRIhME will be a more diverse and socially integrated HME sector with increased levels of confidence and satisfaction in its stakeholders, offering the world more creative and socially engaged performing artists who were trained in healthy and sustainable communities of learning.