Overview
Background
Professor Kelly Matthews is an expert on the student experience in higher education. She is a leading scholar and award-winning educator at the University of Queensland, internationally recognised for her work on student voice and partnership.
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 an AdvanceHE 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. She continues to grow the Australian Teaching/Education Focused Academic Network to connect, support, and recognise the vital workforce shaping Australia's future through exceptional tertiary teaching.
At UQ, she is developing and implementing the revamped Career Advancement of Senior Academic Women to achieve UQ’s strategic objective of gender parity among the professoriate. She chairs the University Misconduct Board, is a Provost's nominee on the Senate Academic Administrative Appeals Committee, and is an Academic Board Standing Committee representative on Academic Hiring Panels and School Reviews.
Connect with Kelly on LinkedIn and read her latest co-authored book, Writing about teaching and learning in higher education.
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
Works
Search Professor Kelly Matthews’s works on UQ eSpace
2019
Book Chapter
Collaborative, scenario-based, open-ended, problem-solving tasks in chemistry
Lawrie, Gwen, Matthews, K. E. and Gahan, Lawrie (2019). Collaborative, scenario-based, open-ended, problem-solving tasks in chemistry. Teaching chemistry in higher education: a festschrift in honour of Professor Tina Overton. (pp. 105-122) edited by Michael K. Seery and Claire McDonnell. Dublin, Ireland: Creathach Press.
2019
Book Chapter
Afterword
Marquis, Beth, Healey, Mick and Matthews, Kelly E. (2019). Afterword. Pedagogical partnerships: a how-to guide for faculty, students, and academic developers in higher education. (pp. 279-281) Elon, NC, United States: Elon University Center for Engaged Learning. doi: 10.36284/celelon.oa1
2018
Journal Article
What we talk about when we talk about students as partners
Cook-Sather, Alison, Matthews, Kelly E., Ntem, Anita and Leathwick, Sandra (2018). What we talk about when we talk about students as partners. International Journal for Students as Partners, 2 (2), 1-9. doi: 10.15173/ijsap.v2i2.3790
2018
Journal Article
Enhancing outcomes and reducing inhibitors to the engagement of students and staff in learning and teaching partnerships: implications for academic development
Matthews, Kelly E., Mercer-Mapstone, Lucy, Dvorakova, Sam Lucie, Acai, Anita, Cook-Sather, Alison, Felten, Peter, Healey, Mick, Healey, Ruth L. and Marquis, Elizabeth (2018). Enhancing outcomes and reducing inhibitors to the engagement of students and staff in learning and teaching partnerships: implications for academic development. International Journal for Academic Development, 24 (3), 1-14. doi: 10.1080/1360144x.2018.1545233
2018
Journal Article
Engaging students as participants and partners: an argument for partnership with students in higher education research on student success
Matthews, Kelly E. (2018). Engaging students as participants and partners: an argument for partnership with students in higher education research on student success. International Journal of Chinese Education, 7 (1), 42-64. doi: 10.1163/22125868-12340089
2018
Journal Article
Frontier perspectives and insights into higher education student success
Coates, Hamish and Matthews, Kelly E. (2018). Frontier perspectives and insights into higher education student success. Higher Education Research and Development, 37 (5), 903-907. doi: 10.1080/07294360.2018.1474539
2018
Journal Article
It is a complicated thing: leaders’ conceptions of students as partners in the neoliberal university
Matthews, Kelly E., Dwyer, Alexander, Russell, Stuart and Enright, Eimear (2018). It is a complicated thing: leaders’ conceptions of students as partners in the neoliberal university. Studies in Higher Education, 44 (12), 1-12. doi: 10.1080/03075079.2018.1482268
2018
Other Outputs
Stop treating students like customers and start working with them as partners in learning
Matthews, Kelly (2018, 04 13). Stop treating students like customers and start working with them as partners in learning The Conversation
2018
Journal Article
Conceptions of students as partners
Matthews, Kelly E., Dwyer, Alexander, Hine, Lorelei and Turner, Jarred (2018). Conceptions of students as partners. Higher Education, 76 (6), 1-15. doi: 10.1007/s10734-018-0257-y
2018
Journal Article
Growing partnership communities: what experiences of an international institute suggest about developing student-staff partnership in higher education
Marquis, Elizabeth, Guitman, Rachel, Black, Christine, Healey, Mick, Matthews, Kelly and Dvorakova, Lucie Sam (2018). Growing partnership communities: what experiences of an international institute suggest about developing student-staff partnership in higher education. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 56 (2), 1-11. doi: 10.1080/14703297.2018.1424012
2018
Conference Publication
Values that matter to students in Students as Partners
Chunduri, Prasad, Luo, Benjamin and Matthews, Kelly E (2018). Values that matter to students in Students as Partners. STARS Conference, Auckland, New Zealand, 8-11 July 2018.
2018
Edited Outputs
National Students as Partners Roundtable Program
Eimear Enright, Kelly E. Matthews, Stuart Russell and Catherine Sherwood eds. (2018). National Students as Partners Roundtable Program. 4th Annual Australian National Students as Partners Roundtable, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, 2 October 2018. Brisbane, Australia: University of Queensland.
2018
Conference Publication
Doing ‘Students as Partners’ is not enough: the role of theory in our partnership practices
Matthews, Kelly E. (2018). Doing ‘Students as Partners’ is not enough: the role of theory in our partnership practices. ISSOTL18: Toward a learning culture, Bergen, Norway, 24-27 October 2018. Bergen, Norway: International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.
2018
Book
Higher education learning framework: an evidence informed model for university learning
Nugent, Annita, Lodge, Jason, Carroll, Annemaree, Bagraith, Rupert, MacMahon, Stephanie, Matthews, Kelly E. and Sah, Pankaj (2018). Higher education learning framework: an evidence informed model for university learning. Brisbane, Australia: The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/348c85f
2018
Book
Investigating impact in higher education
Ahmad, Arshad, Fenton, Nancy, Graystone, Leah, Acai, Anita, Matthews, Kelly E. and Chalmers, Denise (2018). Investigating impact in higher education. Sydney, Australia: Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia.
2018
Book Chapter
Connecting learning, teaching, and research through student–staff partnerships: Toward universities as egalitarian learning communities
Matthews, Kelly E., Cook-Sather, Alison and Healey, Mick (2018). Connecting learning, teaching, and research through student–staff partnerships: Toward universities as egalitarian learning communities. Shaping higher education with students: Ways to connect research and teaching. (pp. 23-29) edited by Tong, Vincent C. H., Standen, Alex and Sotiriou, Mina. London, United Kingdom: UCL Press. doi: 10.2307/j.ctt21c4tcm.7
2018
Other Outputs
An Analysis of Interpretive Framing in Literature on Students as Partners in Teaching and Learning: Data Tables
Matthews, Kelly E., Cook-Sather, Alison, Acai, Anita, Dvorakova, Sam Lucie, Felten, Peter, Marquis, Elizabeth and Mercer-Mapstone, Lucy (2018). An Analysis of Interpretive Framing in Literature on Students as Partners in Teaching and Learning: Data Tables. University of Queensland. (Dataset) doi: 10.14264/uql.2018.519
2018
Conference Publication
Writing for publication in the scholarship of teaching and learning
Healey, Mick, Matthews, Kelly E., Cook-Sather, Alison and Healey, Ruth (2018). Writing for publication in the scholarship of teaching and learning. International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Bergen, Norway, 24-27 October 2018.
2018
Journal Article
On the use of history of mathematics: an introduction to Galileo's study of free fall motion
Ponce Campuzano, Juan Carlos, Matthews, Kelly E. and Adams, Peter (2018). On the use of history of mathematics: an introduction to Galileo's study of free fall motion. International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, 49 (4), 517-529. doi: 10.1080/0020739X.2017.1377301
2018
Other Outputs
The Higher Education Learning Framework: an evidence-informed model for university learning
Carroll, Annemaree, Lodge, Jason M., Bagraith, Rupert, Nugent, Annita, Matthews, Kelly and Sah, Pankaj (2018). The Higher Education Learning Framework: an evidence-informed model for university learning. Brisbane, Australia: The University of Queensland.
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
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
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
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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