Dr Matt Finn

Matt is co-Director of Education and Student Experience for Geography, Streatham. You can contact me using this email address for queries in this role.

Matt explores changes in the contemporary conditions of education, and works to understand how childhood and young people's lives vary globally. He brings this to his scholarship of geographical learning and education which is informed by a participatory action research ethos.

In 2023, he received the Royal Geographical Society's Taylor and Francis Award for demonstrating "excellence in the practice and promotion of teaching in higher education" and in 2024 was awarded Principal Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy.

As an Exeter Education Incubator fellow Matt worked with students to research experiences of transitions to university following the introduction of the reformed A Levels in England. In a second project he explored 'online resources and narrowcasting the curriculum'. This research informs his contribution to Exeter's Transition and Induction Working Group as part of the Success for All Strategy.

Matt's Masters and PhD studies - on the rising use of data in education settings - were enabled by an ESRC Quota Studentship. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers, a member of the Geography Education Research Collective and a member of the RGS-IBG Geography and Education Research Group committee. He is a part of the editorial collective of Geography - the Geographical Association’s international journal for lecturers, teachers and students in post-16 geography. He was Education Officer for the RGS-IBG Geographies of Children, Youth & Families Research Group (2018-2024).

Matt lectures on a wide range of courses and seek to combine enthusiasm for geography with opportunities for students and academics to shape learning together.

Before academia he had a variety of jobs including being a Human Resources administrator with a city council, a teacher, a local education administrator and a church-based pastoral worker with students.

Research interests:

• Geographies of education and schooling
• Childhood, youth and young people
• Geographical education and learning
• Participatory Action Research (PAR)
• Critical geographies of data

Qualifications and Professional Recognition:

BA Geography (Durham)
MA Research Methods - Geography (Durham)
PhD Geography (Durham)
Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (Exeter)

Principal Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy