Rate My Professor Felicity Matthews

Professor Felicity Matthews serves as Head of the School of Sociological Studies, Politics and International Relations at the University of Sheffield. She earned her BA (Hons), MA with Distinction, and PhD in Politics from the University of Sheffield. Joining the institution in 2012, she advanced to Chair in 2021. Her prior appointments include a lectureship at the University of York, an ESRC-funded Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Exeter, and a Leverhulme Fellowship at the University of Sheffield. Matthews has held significant leadership positions such as Faculty Deputy Director for Learning and Teaching from 2014 to 2018, Faculty Director of Postgraduate Research from 2021 to 2022, and Director of the ESRC-funded White Rose Doctoral Training Partnership from 2022 to 2024. From 2018 to 2019, she was an ESRC-funded Parliamentary Academic Fellow hosted by the House of Commons Petitions Committee. She has contributed to teaching on government operations, British politics, policymaking, and implementation, employing innovative methods like research-based seminars and real-time case studies.

Her research centers on the exercise of power in the policy process and the relationships between government, Parliament, and citizens, with specific expertise in British politics. Her interests span executive politics, public administration, parliamentary studies, and constitutional politics. Key publications include 'Between everyday politics and political elites: transmission and coupling within Westminster’s parliamentary e-petitions system' (British Politics, 2023), 'Enacting accountability under populist pressures: theorizing the relationship between anti-elite rhetoric and public accountability' (Administration & Society, 2022), 'The value of ‘between election’ political participation: Do parliamentary e-petitions matter to political elites?' (British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 2021), 'Parliamentary scrutiny of executive patronage: the relationship between institutional norms, reputation and accountability' (Public Administration, 2020), and 'Formal rules, informal norms and the everyday practice of coalition governance' (British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 2019). Matthews co-edited Policy & Politics from 2015 to 2020 and edits the New Perspectives in Policy and Politics book series published by Bristol University Press. She has provided expert witness testimony to parliamentary committees including the House of Commons Petitions Committee and Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, and appeared in over 130 media outlets such as BBC Radio 4 and The Financial Times. Additionally, she served on the ESRC Peer Review College from 2010 to 2018 and convened the Political Studies Association Annual International Conference in 2015.