Bio
Dr Matt Ryan is Associate Professor of Governance and Public Policy at the University of Southampton where he obtained his PhD in 2015. He is founding co-director of the Centre for Democratic Futures, Policy Director at the Web Science Institute, and holds a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship.
Research interests
Matt’s research focuses on democratic innovation, participation in politics and policymaking, as well as improving social research methods. He is PI of the Rebooting Democracy project, supporting design and testing of interventions to sustain democracy. The project aims to take advantage of analytic potential of data science to understand what interventions achieve greater inclusion, learning, deliberation, and popular support for institutions. His monograph, Why Citizen Participation Succeeds or Fails, was published by Bristol University Press in 2021. Prior to undertaking an academic career Matt worked in retail, the civil service, and as a legislative assistant.