Matt Mawer

My professional life revolves around formulating comprehensible answers to complex questions. I have worked in central government, academia, and the NGO sector, both as a primary researcher and a research commissioner. I am currently based at the Department for Education, leading the Omnibus Panel Surveys of parents & pupils and teachers and leaders as part of the wide-ranging analytical work of the Central Research & Evaluation Division. Prior to taking up my current role, I conducted international comparative analysis to support the country’s Covid-19 response (Cabinet Office), led social science input into development of the UK’s Environmental Land Management Scheme (Defra), and designed and delivered evaluation of educational interventions to improve social mobility (Department of Education).

Before joining the Civil service, I was based at The Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), the world’s first and oldest international university network. With a small team of colleagues, I analysed the outcomes of a £25m per annum government-funded scholarship program – the UK’s Commonwealth Scholarships and Fellowships – for individual recipients and societies; in addition to writing about scholarship programme outcomes, the state of evaluation practice, and the wider implications of higher education development programs.

From 2015-2017 I edited the blog series Measuring Success?, which drew together expert contributions on analysing scholarship programs and aimed to facilitate dialogue between the various government agencies, private foundations, and academic researchers working in the sector. I have also sat on various international working groups concerned with international higher education, development, and research approaches, such as the Commonwealth Tertiary Education Facility’s expert working group and the Donor Harmonization Group of agencies and researchers involved in higher education development cooperation.

In the increasingly hazy and distant past, I was an academic researcher at King’s College London and Coventry University (where I completed my PhD). I specialised in education technology applications and understanding students' perspectives on higher education and have been involved in a variety of rather interesting projects funded variously by the European Commission, Leverhulme Trust, and UK Quality Assurance Agency. The outputs from my academic work - both while in academia and at the ACU - are listed on the [publications] (/Matt-Mawer-publications.pdf) page.

©2019 Matt Mawer