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Matt Bennett

Co-Investigator, University of Birmingham

Matt is a Professorial Research Fellow and a Co-Investigator at the Centre for Care. He joined the University of Sheffield in 2021 and is based in both CIRCLE (the Centre for International Research on Care Labour and Equalities) and the Department of Sociological Studies at the University . 

From 2013-2021 Matt worked in the Department of Social Policy, Sociology and Criminology at the University of Birmingham as an Assistant Professor before being promoted to Associate Professor. During his time there, he was the department’s Director of Postgraduate Taught Programmes, the Midlands Graduate School DTP lead for Social Policy and Social Work, the Director of Postgraduate Research Methods Training for the College of Social Sciences, and the College of Social Sciences lead for the Institute for Interdisciplinary Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. 

Matt holds an associate position in the School of Social Policy and Practice at the University of Pennsylvania, USA, where he is also the Co-Director of the month-long Social Impact Fellowship (Matt was himself awarded a Social Impact Fellowship in 2013). 

He is a member of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA) where he is also the Volunteering Track Chair and has served on the Annual Conference Best Paper panel. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Care and Caring and the Journal of Social Policy.

Matt holds a BA(Hons) degree in Psychology and Sociology from the University of Washington. He completed both his MSc and DPhil in Sociology at Nuffield College, University of Oxford. 

Research interests

Matt’s research interests are in inequalities and wellbeing outcomes of care and improving the data and analytical infrastructure in social care. He is Co-Investigator in the ESRC ‘Sustainable Care’ and NIHR ‘Achieving Closure?’ programmes that look at the cost and contributions of care and the impact of care home closures. He is also Principal Investigator on an ESRC award that looks at the impact of social diversity on stress (allostatic load) and wellbeing. His expertise is in linking and analysing large-scale surveys and administrative datasets using advanced statistical methods. 

Matt works closely with Carers UK and the Office for National Statistics to better understand inequality and wellbeing outcomes for unpaid carers. Matt’s social care research (both academic and co-produced with Carers UK) has consistently featured in the national media and has been debated in the House of Lords.

He is interested in a range of research topics, including:

  • Inequality
  • Social care
  • Unpaid care
  • Social diversity
  • Intergroup relations
  • Social cohesion
  • Prosocial behaviour
  • Quantitative methods

Publications

  • Zhang, Y., Bennett, M.R., and Yeandle, S. (2021) ‘Local government spending on adult social care and carers’ subjective wellbeing in England.’ BMJ Open 2021;11:e049652. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2021-049652
  • Heist, H. D., Lawrence, S. M., Cnaan, A. R., Bennett, M. R. (2021) The Philanthropic Poor: Generosity in Rural India. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1177/08997640211060087
  • Li. D., Ramos, M., Bennett, M R., Massey, D., and Hewstone, M. (2021). ‘How does Increasing Immigration Affect Ethnic Minority Groups?’ The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 697 (1): 49-65. https://doi.org/10.1177/00027162211051999
  • Bennett, M.R., Parameshwaran M., Schmid, K., Ramos, M. and Hewstone, M. (2021). ‘Exploring the Relationship Between Religious Neighborhood Diversity, Religious and National Identity, and Trust in England’. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430221990095
  • Li, D., Ramos, M., Bennett, M R., Massey, D. and Hewstone, M. (2021). ‘Does ethnic diversity affect well-being and allostatic load among people across neighbourhoods in England?’ Health & Place, 68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2021.102518
  • Bennett, M. R., Davidge, K. S, Pruszynski, K., Williamson, D., Yeandle, S. (2021). ‘Carers Count: The importance of Census data – expert reflections.’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6HxIsvEujg
  • Bennett, M. R., Davidge, K. S, Pruszynski, K., Williamson, D., Yeandle, S. (2021). ‘Carers Count: The importance of Census data.’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUW-RfG1Tio&t=6s
  • Bennett, M. R., Glasby, J., and Yeandle, S. (2021). ‘Long Term Funding of Adult Social Care’. Submitted to UK Parliament Housing, Communities and Local Government committee call for evidence on Long Term Funding of Adult Social Care.
  • Bennett, M. R., Davidge, K. S., Pruszynski, K.,  Williamson, D., Yeandle, S. (2021). ‘Carers Count: making your voice heard in the 2021 Census’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mg02AdM-FeU
  • Bennett, M. R., Davidge,  K.S., Pruszynski, K., Williamson, D., Yeandle, S. (2021). ‘Carers Count: making your voice heard in the 2021 Census – Carers’ reflections. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV8wCezFHG8
  • Yeandle, S., Glasby, J., Needham, C., Bennett, M. R., Burns, D., Hamblin, K. and Kilkey, M. (2020). House of Lords calls for better pay and conditions for care workers. CIRCLE, University of Sheffield.
  • Yeandle, S., Bennett, M. R., Zhang, Y., Davidge, K., Glasby, J., Needham, C., Manthorpe, J., Hussein, S., and Hall, P. (2020). ‘Adult Social Care funding, workforce and reform’. Submitted to UK Parliament Health and Social Care committee call for evidence on ‘Social care: Funding and Workforce’.
  • Glasby, J., Zhang, Y., Bennett, M.R., & HALL, P. (2020). A lost decade? A renewed case for adult social care reform in England. Journal of Social Policy, 1-32. doi:10.1017/S0047279420000288
  • Bennett M.R, Zhang Y., and Yeandle S. (2020). ‘Caring & COVID-19: Financial wellbeing’.Sustainable Care: Care Matters series 2020/03, CIRCLE, University of Sheffield.
  • Bennett M.R, Zhang Y., and Yeandle S. (2020). ‘Caring & COVID-19: Loneliness and use of services’. Sustainable Care: Care Matters series 2020/02, CIRCLE, University of Sheffield.
  • Bennett M.R, Zhang Y., and Yeandle S. (2020). ‘Caring & COVID-19: Hunger and mental health’. Sustainable Care: Care Matters series 2020/01, CIRCLE, University of Sheffield.
  • Zhang, Y., Bennett, M.R., and Yeandle, S. (2019) ‘Will I Care: The likelihood of being a carer in adult life’. London: Carers UK.
  • Clasby, B., Bennett, M.R., Hughes, N., Hodges, E., Meadham, H.,  Hinder, D., Williams, W. H., Mewse, A. (2019). ‘The Consequences of Traumatic Brain Injury from the Classroom to the Courtroom: understanding pathways through structural equation modelling’. Disability and Rehabilitation. 42(23): 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2019.1635214
  • Ramos, M., Bennett, M R., Massey, D., and Hewstone, M. (2019). Social diversity is initially threatening but people do adapt over time. The Conversation.
  • Ramos, M., Bennett, M R., Massey, D., and Hewstone, M. (2019). ‘Humans Adapt to Social Diversity Over Time’. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 116 (25) 12244-12249. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1818884116
  • Mohan, J., and Bennett, M.R. (2019) ‘Community-level Impacts of the Third Sector: Does the local distribution of voluntary organisations influence the likelihood of volunteering?’ Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 51(4): 950-979. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X19831703
  • Bennett, M. R., and Einolf. C. (2017). ‘Religion, Altruism, and Helping Strangers: A multilevel analysis of 123 countries’. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 56(2):323–341. https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12328
  • Kamerāde, D., and Bennett M. R. (2017). ‘Rewarding Work: Volunteering during unemployment, benefits, well-being and mental health’. Work, Employment and Society. 32(1): 38-56.  https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0950017016686030
  • Wiertz, D., Bennett, M. R. and Parameshwaran, M. (2015). ‘Ethnic Heterogeneity, Ethnic and National Identity, and Social Cohesion in England’ pp. 123-42 in Social Cohesion and Immigration in Europe and North America: Mechanisms, conditions and causality, eds R. Koopmans, B. Lancee, and M. Schaeffer. London: Routledge.
  • Bennett, M. R. (2015). ‘Religiosity and Formal Volunteering in Global Perspective’ pp. 77-96 in Religion and Volunteering: Complex, contested and ambiguous relationships, eds L. Hustinx, J. and von Essen, J. London: Springer.
  • Bennett, M. R., Bulloch, S. L, and Mohan, J. (2013). Age Trends in Civic Engagement in the UK. Evidence submitted to House of Lords Select Committee on Public Services and Demographic Change.