Matt is a Professor of Social Policy based in the School of Social Policy and Society, University of Birmingham (UK). Much of his work has focused on formal and informal volunteers, charitable giving and social cohesion. He takes intersectional, life course, and place-based perspectives for a holistic view of role of background, time, and geography in people’s experiences and life chances. His expertise is in linking and analysing large-scale surveys and administrative datasets using advanced statistical methods.

He has a track record of leading large interdisciplinary teams, receiving over £26 million in research funding as PI and Co-I from the ESRC, NIHR and Nuffield Foundation; and 12 collaborative PhD studentships (with partners including Office for National Statistics, Carers UK, and Health Foundation, Social Care Wales). He leads the ‘Inequalities’ and ‘Data Infrastructure’ research groups in the ESRC Centre for Care, which he helped establish as Deputy Director. 

Matt is passionate about applied and impactful social research that benefits policy and practice, and therefore works closely with partners outside of the academic sector. He has a track record of codesigning research and building research capacity to support their priorities and needs. These partnerships include the Office for National Statistics, Carers UK, Sheffield Young Carers, Hampshire County Council, Social Care Wales and the Health Foundation. These partnerships have increased the quantitative capacity in social research, typically with Early Career Researchers at the heart.

He has won several university Outstanding Teaching Awards for his research-led teaching that embeds quantitative methods in substantive topics.

Select papers

Heist, H. D., Lawrence, S. M., Cnaan, A. R., and Bennett, M. R. (2021) The Philanthropic Poor: Generosity in Rural India. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 51(6), 1349–1376. https://doi.org/10.1177/08997640211060087

Mohan, J., and Bennett, M.R. (2019) Community-level Impacts of the Third Sector: Does the local distribution of voluntary organisations influence the likelihood of volunteering? Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 51(4): 950-979. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X19831703

Bennett, M. R., and Einolf. C. (2017). Religion, Altruism, and Helping Strangers: A multilevel analysis of 123 countries. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 56(2):323–341. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26651909

Kamerāde, D., and Bennett M. R. (2017). Rewarding Work: Volunteering during unemployment, benefits, well-being and mental health. Work, Employment and Society. 32(1): 38-56. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017016686030