Well, this is possibly the scariest blog post I’ve written. I was asked to do this “spotlight on researchers” post and asked for some idea of what I should write. Turns out I’m the first person they’ve asked, so I’m setting the tone for everyone else… apologies in advance to my colleagues!

So, what’s my name and where do I come from?

I’m Peter Matthews, Professor of Social Policy and LGBTQ+ Studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Stirling. I got involved in NESSIE in a bit of a roundabout way. Colleagues at Stirling in our Faculty of Health Sciences and Sport have been involved in precursors to NESSIE. One of the really exciting things about the current round of Evidence Synthesis Groups that NESSIE is part of, is that their scope has been extended to social care – and that’s where I come in.

I do not really research in social care much myself, but where I am really useful for NESSIE is that I am Co-Associate Dean for Research in my Faculty, and my colleagues in Social Work and Dementia and Ageing do cutting-edge research on social care.

My role is a “boundary spanner” to give NESSIE access to that wider expertise.

I am also really enjoying being one of the (awkward) social scientists on the NESSIE team. It’s really interesting working with health researchers, and particularly those who specialise in evidence synthesis and listening to them talk and seeing the epistemological assumptions they make.

My insights into wider social and policy processes have been useful (I think!) to the team. For example, with our current review on drug and alcohol treatment orders, I’ve brought my wider knowledge of criminal justice systems (from working with criminologists) into discussions on the design of the review.

My current research interests are gay – specifically, I’m leading one of the first major research projects to understand the experiences of LGBT+ people in accessing welfare benefits. I also bring my interest in equalities and diversity into NESSIE, and I’m really pleased to be an active member of the NIHR Evidence Synthesis Group Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Working Group.

Blog by Professor Peter Matthews

Spotlight on researchers – Professor Peter Matthews / NESSIE - NIHR Evidence Synthesis Scotland InitiativE by blogadmin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0