Matthew’s role is to provide strategic leadership and operational oversight across all areas of life at St Cuthbert’s, as well as working on behalf of the community within the wider university and in partnership with other organisations. Through collaboration and co-creation with students, alumni, staff, and partners, his aspiration is to foster an ethos and culture in which all may flourish – stretched and supported – in three core values: curiosity, creativity, and compassion. It is hoped that the balance between these values will contribute to holistic personal growth, laying foundations for students to become exceptional graduates, combining success at work with personal fulfilment and happiness.

Before joining St Cuthbert’s, Matthew was a member of the Executive Leadership Team at Durham Cathedral and, earlier, Acting Dean and Lecturer in Medieval Studies at Regent’s Park College, Oxford. He is also an academic theologian and church historian, holding an honorary fellowship within the Department of Theology and Religion. His publications include: a co-authored book, Forgiveness and Restorative Justice: Perspectives from Christian Theology (Palgrave, 2021); a monograph, Blessed Mary and the Monks of England: Benedictines and Cistercians, 1000-1215 (CUA Press, 2024); and an edited collection, Restorative Justice in the UK and China: Encounters, Echoes, and Effects (Springer, 2026).