Matthew Townsend

BA (Hons), CCIP, BSc (Hons)., RN, PGCtHE., FHEA

Matt Townsend is an Adult Field Nursing Lecturer who contributes to all programmes of study at the Department of Healthcare Education here at Aberystwyth University.

Matt is also Clinical Lead for Clinical Skills and has overall departmental responsibility for all clinical skills taught across all programmes delivered, ensuring the department's compliance with HEIW and NMC. Matt is also Deputy Scheme Coordinator for all BSc nursing programmes and deputises in the Scheme Coordinator's absence.

Matt has extensive experience of working at university level and previously worked as an Associate Lecturer in French Studies at Cardiff University (where he researched and taught French Literature, French Philosophy and French Political Thought). He has also worked as a visiting lecturer at Swansea University (where he taught Queer Healthcare and cultural competence). 

As a clinical academic, Matt is a keen researcher and has blind peer-review published on: Bowel Cancer and Public Heath Promotion; Death and Dying; and Covid-19.

During Covid-19, Matt was invited to sit on the steering committee for a joint UKRI-funded qualitative research study between Oxford Brookes University and Cardiff University that critically appraised AEI preparedness for nurse education during Covid-19. Sitting on the committee as a representative for Wales, Matt provided expert advice and consultation on study direction and dissemination of research findings.

An openly gay academic, Matt has championed and leads on a project that is looking at ensuring nurse education prioritises queer cultural competence and congruence. Matt is ensuring that Aberystwyth University establishes itself as a flagship institution and centre of excellence for LGBTQ+ visibility and inclusivity in healthcare education programmes. 

Queer Research Interests:

Matt is currently writing a book. Dying with Pride is a monograph and considers what truly matters to queer people when approaching the end of their lives and what it means spiritually, practically, and culturally to die proudly and unapologetically queer. 

Queer end-of-life care. Matt has a keen research interest on queer end-of-life care, with a particular focus on how nurses can embed cultural competence and queer-informed approaches to ensure patients die with dignity while embracing their identities and what matters most to them. He is especially interested in exploring how healthcare systems and professionals can better respond to the unique needs of queer communities, including those living in rural settings where access to specialist services may be limited. Key research questions underpinning his work include: How can nurses champion queer-inclusive approaches to end-of-life care? What strategies best support cultural competence in palliative care practice? And how can rural healthcare systems address disparities to ensure equitable, affirming care for queer patients and their families?

Transgender dementia care. Using Queer Temporality as a lens through which to view transgender dementia care, Matt's interest lies specifically in absent or disrupted childhoods and the emerging field of transgender dementia care. More explicitly, Matt is interested in how these concepts shape care experiences across the lifespan and how nurses can respond with compassion, inclusivity and cultural competence. Matt is interested in examining how dementia services can better recognise and affirm transgender identity and how understandings of time, memory, and identity in queer contexts influence both patient need and nursing practice.