Overview
Background
Professor Kelly Matthews is an expert on the student experience in higher education—recently ranked amongst the top 5% of cited scholars globally in higher education, teaching and curriculum, and student partnership—and is an award-winning university teacher.
Her research, spanning over 150 publications and 100 invited talks, is about impact---shaping how students actively participate in their learning, directly improving experiences for students and informing the practices of teaching staff globally. Awarded an Australian Teaching Fellowship and a Higher Education Academy Principal Fellowship, Kelly has
- established influential international writing groups that mentor and motivate emerging scholars to publish about their educational practices,
- co-founded the International Journal for Students as Partners to enable students and staff from across the world to shape what counts as knowledge,
- created and sustained the Students as Partners Network to both celebrate and inspire educational practices across universities worldwide, and
- led collaborative, multi-institutional projects that recognise and promote educational leadership and change through applied research.
In 2025, Kelly is leading a multi-institutional project with Deakin, Monash, and UTS to shape AI policy and practice through student voice.
Kelly is the Academic Lead for Student Experience and Strategic Initiatives in the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) Portfolio in the Institute of Teaching and Learning Innovation.
Availability
- Professor Kelly Matthews is:
- Not available for supervision
- Media expert
Fields of research
Qualifications
- Bachelor of Arts, University of New Orleans
- Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Queensland
- Member, Australian Institute of Company Directors, Australian Institute of Company Directors
Works
Search Professor Kelly Matthews’s works on UQ eSpace
2022
Conference Publication
Nurturing relationship-rich practices
Matthews, Kelly and Felten, Peter (2022). Nurturing relationship-rich practices. ASCILITE 2022 Conference, Sydney, NSW Australia, 4-7 December 2022. Tugun, QLD Australia: Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education. doi: 10.14742/apubs.2022.268
2022
Journal Article
Are Confucian educational values a barrier to engaging students as partners in Chinese universities?
Liang, Yifei and Matthews, Kelly E. (2022). Are Confucian educational values a barrier to engaging students as partners in Chinese universities?. Higher Education Research and Development, 42 (6), 1453-1466. doi: 10.1080/07294360.2022.2138276
2022
Journal Article
‘Students as partners rather than followers but … ’: understanding academics’ conceptions of changing learner-teacher relationships in Chinese higher education
Dai, Kun and Matthews, Kelly E. (2022). ‘Students as partners rather than followers but … ’: understanding academics’ conceptions of changing learner-teacher relationships in Chinese higher education. Higher Education Research and Development, 42 (6), 1-15. doi: 10.1080/07294360.2022.2135690
2022
Other Outputs
Modes of delivery in higher education: final report
Lodge, Jason, Matthews, Kelly, Kubler, Matthias and Johnstone, Melissa (2022). Modes of delivery in higher education: final report. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: Institute for Social Science Research.
2022
Other Outputs
Impact of COVID-19 on teaching and learning across the higher education sector: a scoping review
Kelly E Matthews, Victoria Sullivan, Jasmine Huang and Caelan Rafferty (2022). Impact of COVID-19 on teaching and learning across the higher education sector: a scoping review. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: The University of Queensland.
2022
Other Outputs
5 problems with the Student Experience Survey’s attempt to understand what’s going on in higher education post-COVID
Matthews, Kelly E., Lodge, Jason M. and Johnstone, Melissa (2022, 08 22). 5 problems with the Student Experience Survey’s attempt to understand what’s going on in higher education post-COVID The Conversation
2022
Other Outputs
Stakeholder consultation report for the modes of delivery in higher education project. Appendix C to Modes of delivery in higher education final report
Kubler, Matthias, Johnstone, Melissa, Clague, Denise, Lodge, Jason and Matthews, Kelly E. (2022). Stakeholder consultation report for the modes of delivery in higher education project. Appendix C to Modes of delivery in higher education final report. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: The University of Queensland.
2022
Conference Publication
What do we know about cross-cultural learner-teacher partnership practices?
Zhang, Meng and Matthews, K.E. (2022). What do we know about cross-cultural learner-teacher partnership practices?. Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, 27-30 June 2022.
2022
Conference Publication
Thinking ecologically about engaging students as partners in learning and teaching
Liang, Yifei and Matthews, Kelly E. (2022). Thinking ecologically about engaging students as partners in learning and teaching. Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia, Melbourne, VIC Australia, 27-30 June 2022.
2022
Journal Article
Examining the overlapping identities of teaching focused academics and academic developers: expanding ideas
Godbold, N., Matthews, K. E. and Gannaway, D. (2022). Examining the overlapping identities of teaching focused academics and academic developers: expanding ideas. International Journal for Academic Development, 28 (4), 1-12. doi: 10.1080/1360144x.2022.2082436
2022
Journal Article
Recognising cultural capital through shared meaning-making in cross-cultural partnership practices
Zhang, Meng, Matthews, Kelly and Liu, Shuang (2022). Recognising cultural capital through shared meaning-making in cross-cultural partnership practices. International Journal for Students as Partners, 6 (1), 64-80. doi: 10.15173/ijsap.v6i1.4893
2022
Journal Article
Student voice in higher education: the importance of distinguishing student representation and student partnership
Matthews, K. E. and Dollinger, M. (2022). Student voice in higher education: the importance of distinguishing student representation and student partnership. Higher Education, 85 (3), 1-16. doi: 10.1007/s10734-022-00851-7
2022
Journal Article
Insights into how academics reframed their assessment during a pandemic: disciplinary variation and assessment as afterthought
Slade, Christine, Lawrie, Gwendolyn, Taptamat, Nantana, Browne, Eleanor, Sheppard, Karen and Matthews, Kelly E. (2022). Insights into how academics reframed their assessment during a pandemic: disciplinary variation and assessment as afterthought. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 47 (4), 588-605. doi: 10.1080/02602938.2021.1933379
2022
Book Chapter
Toward trust in SoTL: the role of relational ethics
Bunnell, Sarah L., Felten, Peter and Matthews, Kelly E. (2022). Toward trust in SoTL: the role of relational ethics. Ethics and the scholarship of teaching and learning. (pp. 129-146) edited by Lisa M. Fedoruk. Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature Switzerland. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-11810-4_9
2022
Book Chapter
Constructing higher education with students as partners in learning and teaching
Matthews, Kelly E. (2022). Constructing higher education with students as partners in learning and teaching. Global student engagement: policy insights and international research perspectives. (pp. 158-170) edited by Hamish Coates, Xi Gao, Fei Guo and Jinghuan Shi. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003254096-15
2021
Journal Article
‘It is difficult for students to contribute’: investigating possibilities for pedagogical partnerships in Chinese universities
Dai, Kun, Matthews, Kelly E. and Shen, Wenqin (2021). ‘It is difficult for students to contribute’: investigating possibilities for pedagogical partnerships in Chinese universities. Teaching in Higher Education, 29 (2), 1-15. doi: 10.1080/13562517.2021.2015752
2021
Journal Article
Students as partners in China: investigating the potentials and possibilities for growing practices across universities
Liang, Yifei and Matthews, Kelly E. (2021). Students as partners in China: investigating the potentials and possibilities for growing practices across universities. International Journal for Students as Partners, 5 (2), 28-47. doi: 10.15173/ijsap.v5i2.4767
2021
Journal Article
Connecting during times of disconnection: student-teacher partnerships in co-designing online education
Rafferty, Caelan and Matthews, Kelly (2021). Connecting during times of disconnection: student-teacher partnerships in co-designing online education. Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education (22). doi: 10.47408/jldhe.vi22.726
2021
Conference Publication
Learning together in a global pandemic: the losses and gains of moving online
Mårtensson, Katarina, Matthews, Kelly E. and McLaughlin, Celeste (2021). Learning together in a global pandemic: the losses and gains of moving online. International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning,, Virtual, 26-29 October .
2021
Conference Publication
To speak or not to speak: fostering inclusive cross-cultural student-staff partnership practices through a storytelling methodology.
Zhang, Meng, Vayada, Preeti and Matthews, Kelly E. (2021). To speak or not to speak: fostering inclusive cross-cultural student-staff partnership practices through a storytelling methodology.. International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Virtual, 26-29 October 2021.
Funding
Supervision
Availability
- Professor Kelly Matthews is:
- Not available for supervision
Supervision history
Current supervision
-
Doctor Philosophy
Student engagement and partnership on teacher identity development: A comparative study between Indonesia and Australia
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Robin Shields
Completed supervision
-
2024
Doctor Philosophy
Disrupting and reproducing power: A focused ethnography of intercultural learner-teacher partnership using Bourdieu's social field theory and intercultural communication theory
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Shuang Liu
-
2023
Doctor Philosophy
Relationship, engagement, and culture: Exploring the conceptions of students as partners in Chinese higher education
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Jason Lodge
-
2023
Doctor Philosophy
Speaking for ourselves: Indian students co-constructed stories of engaging in partnership with staff in an Australian university
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Suraiya Abdul Hameed
-
2023
Doctor Philosophy
Being a teaching-focused academic in a research-intensive university: A focused ethnography
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Deanne Gannaway
-
2022
Doctor Philosophy
Enacting Pasin as storying as research: Ways of rethinking the health workers' curriculum in Papua New Guinea
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Di Eley
-
2018
Doctor Philosophy
An exploration of Chinese students' learning experiences in China-Australia '2+2' articulation programmes: In between two systems.
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Emeritus Professor Bob Lingard, Dr Vicente Reyes
Media
Enquiries
Contact Professor Kelly Matthews directly for media enquiries about:
- AI in higher education
- assessment
- education quality
- higher education
- student engagement
- student voice
- teaching impact
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