[1] Murphy is Professor of Music and Head of Musicology at the University of Melbourne, Australia.
The research for her PhD (1984) The Formation of the Music Criticism of Hector Berlioz (Melbourne University Postgraduate scholarship) was supervised by M. François Lesure (École des hautes études, Paris) and Meredith Moon at Melbourne.
While studying in Paris (1980–1982) she participated in musicology seminars run by Lesure at the École des hautes études.
Murphy has attracted substantial external peer reviewed grants and has convened a number of conferences, including "Music's Audience" (2001, keynote Stephen Banfield, Birmingham), the 2001 National conference of the Musicological Society of Australia[3] and an international Symposium on 19th Century French music in 2004.
She is a founding member of the United Kingdom Arts and Humanities Research Council Network Francophone Music Criticism 1789–1914, and since 2006 has been an Honorary Associate (and Australian corresponding member) of Centre for the History of Music in Britain, the Empire and the Commonwealth, (CHOMBEC) in the UK.