Dr Matthew Jones

Biography

Dr Matthew Jones joined Swinburne in July 2022 as Senior Lecturer in Criminology. As an interdisciplinary social scientist his work spans the fields of criminology, sociology, law and organisational studies.

Matthew is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and is committed to enhancing the student experience through engaging, innovative and evidence-informed pedagogy. At Swinburne he leads and teaches into three units:

• CRI10002-Fundamentals of Criminology
• CRI20001-Policing: Systems and Practice
• CRI20002-Global Crime

Having relocated from the United kingdom (UK) to Melbourne, Matthew has an international reputation for his work related to policing. As part of his doctoral studies, he conducted the first contemporary study into the career experiences of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual police officers in England and Wales. He has since conducted research into areas of police diversity; hate crime and police leadership.

Matthew has recently concluded an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded project in collaboration with colleagues from Northumbria University and Edge Hill University in the UK. The project explored contemporary manifestations of police visibility. Matthew led on one of three themes examining police visibility strategies on social media.

Between 2019-2022 Matthew was elected Chair of the British Society of Criminology’s Policing Network. During this period he also sat on the Executive Committee of the British Society of Criminology.

Prior to joining Swinburne, Matthew was based at The Open University in the UK within the Faculty of Business and Law. He was recruited in 2017 as Teaching Director, to design and develop a new Higher Degree Apprenticeship for Police Officers as part of a new government Higher Degree Apprenticeship policy.  In 2019 he was appointed as the inaugural Head of Department where he led the recruitment, management and leadership of a new team of 18 interdisciplinary academics tasked with delivering this new degree programme in partnership with police organisations nationally. Matthew led on the curriculum partnerships with the police and the public procurement process. During his time at The Open University, Matthew also sat on the leadership team of the cross-university Centre for Policing Research and Learning – working in collaboration with 22 police service partners.

Prior to this he was Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader for Criminology at Northumbria University (2014-2017) and started his career at Cardiff Metropolitan University and Liverpool John Moores University.