Overview
Background
Professor Kelly Matthews is a highly respected scholar of higher education curriculum, pedagogy, and student experience, multiple award-winning university teacher, and senior leader collaborating on university-wide teaching, learning, and student experience strategic initiatives.
Her research has shaped the discourse of student voice, arguing for students as partners in higher education. With over 120 academic publications and 80 invited talks, Kelly aims to impact the everyday relational practices of students, academics, and staff associated with connection, care, community, and commitment to collaborative learning.
Her strategic leadership has had a positive impact across disciplines and universities, and she has been recognised with an Australian Teaching Fellowship and a UK-based HEA Principal Fellowship. Kelly has played a key role in establishing international collaborative writing groups and change institutes, creating and sustaining the Students as Partners Network (now in its 10th year), co-founding the International Journal for Students as Partners, and mentoring scholars to write and publish about their teaching and learning.
In 2024, Kelly is collaborating on a cross-institutional study to explore student perspectives on artificial intelligence (AI), co-funded by Deakin, Monash, UQ, and UTS. She is also co-organising the 10th annual Students as Partners (SaP) Roundtable with students and staff from Australia, Pakistan, South Africa, the US, and the UK. With teaching-focused colleagues at Monash, UNSW, UQ, and Sydney, she is co-creating an Australian Teaching/Education Focused Academic Network to connect academics committed to positive educational impact through university teaching. At UQ, she is collaborating with colleagues to develop the Women at E (WE) Network to nurture the leadership capability and positive impact of women professors.
Kelly stepped into the Interim Pro Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning) role in July 2024.
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
2015
Conference Publication
Fostering communities of practice through international collaborative writing groups
Matthews, Kelly E, Healey, Mick, Marquis, Beth and McDonald, Jacquie (2015). Fostering communities of practice through international collaborative writing groups. Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA), Melbourne, VIC Australia, 6-9 July 2015.
2015
Conference Publication
Learning to teach in higher education: the ‘promise’ of digital solutions and what new teachers want
Dominic McGrath, Matthews, Kelly, Kavanagh, Lydia, Dearden, Ellen, Rutherford, Peter and Duck, Julie M. (2015). Learning to teach in higher education: the ‘promise’ of digital solutions and what new teachers want. International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Conference, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, 27-30 October 2015.
2014
Other Outputs
Quantitative Skills Assessment for Science Students (QSASS)
Matthews, Kelly (2014). Quantitative Skills Assessment for Science Students (QSASS).
2014
Other Outputs
Students’ perspectives on quantitative skills in an undergraduate science curriculum: a mixed methods study of the experienced curriculum
Matthews, Kelly (2014). Students’ perspectives on quantitative skills in an undergraduate science curriculum: a mixed methods study of the experienced curriculum. PhD Thesis, School of Education, The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/uql.2015.87
2014
Journal Article
Science graduates are not that hot at maths: but why?
Matthews, Kelly E. (2014, 09 29). Science graduates are not that hot at maths: but why? The Conversation
2014
Journal Article
“I am working-class”: subjective self-definition as a missing measure of social class and socioeconomic status in higher education research
Rubin, Mark, Denson, Nida, Kilpatrick, Sue, Matthews, Kelly, Stehlik, Tom and Zyngier, David (2014). “I am working-class”: subjective self-definition as a missing measure of social class and socioeconomic status in higher education research. Educational Researcher, 43 (4), 196-200. doi: 10.3102/0013189X14528373
2014
Journal Article
Perceptions of science graduating students on their learning gains
Varsavsky, Cristina, Matthews, Kelly E. and Hodgson, Yvonne (2014). Perceptions of science graduating students on their learning gains. International Journal of Science Education, 36 (6), 929-951. doi: 10.1080/09500693.2013.830795
2014
Journal Article
Early career academic perceptions, attitudes and professional development activities: questioning the teaching and research gap to further academic development
Matthews, Kelly E., Lodge, Jason M. and Bosanquet, Agnes (2014). Early career academic perceptions, attitudes and professional development activities: questioning the teaching and research gap to further academic development. International Journal for Academic Development, 19 (2), 112-124. doi: 10.1080/1360144X.2012.724421
2014
Other Outputs
Extending quantitative skills (QS) in science: trialling and disseminating resources to link and build QS across life sciences majors
Matthews, Kelly, Adams, Peter, Hodgson, Yvonne, Johnson, Elizabeth, Thorn, Peter and Varsavsky, Cristina (2014). Extending quantitative skills (QS) in science: trialling and disseminating resources to link and build QS across life sciences majors. St. Lucia, QLD, Australia: Office for Learning and Teaching.
2014
Conference Publication
Adapting international collaborative writing groups as an academic development approach to build institutional collaborative partnerships.
Matthews, Kelly and Healey, Mick (2014). Adapting international collaborative writing groups as an academic development approach to build institutional collaborative partnerships.. ICED 2014: International Consortium for Educational Development, Stockholm, Sweden, 16-18 June, 2014. London, UK: The International Consortium for Educational Development.
2014
Journal Article
A new look at how to teach and learn
Matthews, Kelly (2014). A new look at how to teach and learn. Campus Review, 24 (4), 31-33.
2014
Journal Article
Technology supported facilitation and assessment of small group collaborative inquiry learning in large first-year classes
Lawrie, Gwendolyn A., Gahan, Lawrence R., Matthews, Kelly E., Weaver, Gabriela C., Bailey, Chantel, Adams, Peter, Kavanagh, Lydia, Long, Phillip D. and Taylor, Matthew (2014). Technology supported facilitation and assessment of small group collaborative inquiry learning in large first-year classes. Journal of Learning Design, 7 (2), 120-135. doi: 10.5204/jld.v7i2.204
2014
Journal Article
Assessment and teaching of science skills: whole of programme perceptions of graduating students
Hodgson, Yvonne, Varsavsky, Cristina and Matthews, Kelly (2014). Assessment and teaching of science skills: whole of programme perceptions of graduating students. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 39 (5), 515-530. doi: 10.1080/02602938.2013.842539
2014
Conference Publication
Curriculum development to achieve graduate learning outcomes in science: implications for academic developers
Matthews, Kelly (2014). Curriculum development to achieve graduate learning outcomes in science: implications for academic developers. ICED 2014: International Consortium for Educational Development, Stockholm, Sweden, 16-18 June 2014. London, United Kingdom: The International Consortium for Educational Development.
2013
Journal Article
Who learns in maths classes depends on how maths is taught
Matthews, Kelly E. (2013, 12 30). Who learns in maths classes depends on how maths is taught
2013
Journal Article
Learning or doing? Science degrees need reform and students can help
Matthews, Kelly (2013, 11 21). Learning or doing? Science degrees need reform and students can help The Conversation
2013
Journal Article
Foreword Delta Conference 2013: Shining through the fog
Matthews, Kelly (2013). Foreword Delta Conference 2013: Shining through the fog. International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, 44 (7), 961-962. doi: 10.1080/0020739X.2013.835905
2013
Journal Article
Factors influencing students’ perceptions of their quantitative skills
Matthews, Kelly E., Hodgson, Yvonne and Varsavsky, Cristina (2013). Factors influencing students’ perceptions of their quantitative skills. International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, 44 (6), 782-795. doi: 10.1080/0020739X.2013.814814
2013
Journal Article
Scientists and mathematicians collaborating to build quantitative skills in undergraduate science
Rylands, Leanne, Simbag, Vilma, Matthews, Kelly E., Coady, Carmel and Belward, Shaun (2013). Scientists and mathematicians collaborating to build quantitative skills in undergraduate science. International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, 44 (6), 834-845. doi: 10.1080/0020739X.2013.783239
2013
Conference Publication
Fostering distributed leadership in university teaching: a case study of 100 leaders of change
Sharma, Manjula, Rifkin, Will, Johnson, Elizabeth, Varsavsky, Cristina, Beames, Stephanie, Pyke, Simon, Crampton, Andrea, Zadnik, Marjan, Matthews, Kelly and Jones, Susan (2013). Fostering distributed leadership in university teaching: a case study of 100 leaders of change. Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA) Conference, Auckland New Zealand, 1-4 July 2013.
Funding
Supervision
Availability
- Professor Kelly Matthews is:
- Not available for supervision
Supervision history
Current supervision
-
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
Completed supervision
-
2023
Doctor Philosophy
Relationship, engagement, and culture: Exploring the conceptions of students as partners in Chinese higher education
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate 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:
- assessment
- education quality
- higher education
- student engagement
- student voice
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