Mr Matthew Townsend BA (Hons), CCIP, BSc (Hons)., RN

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 has extensive experience of working at university level and, prior to his nurse training, previously worked as an Associate Lecturer in French Studies at Cardiff University and a Visiting Lecturer at Swansea University. 

Matt’s areas of clinical expertise are: emergency surgery; critical care nursing (intensive care); and colorectal nursing. 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 and student nurse education provision during the pandemic.

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 the representative for Wales, Matt provided expert advice and consultation on study direction and dissemination of research findings.

An openly gay academic, Matt has also championed and currently leads on an all-Wales pilot that is looking at ensuring current nurse education provision prioritises cultural competence and congruence training when caring for LGBTQ+ patients and service users. With only a handful of UK-wide institutions offering such training as part of their indicative curricula, 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. 

CONFERENCES/SEMINARS 

Matt has spoken at several conferences as invited keynote speaker in his areas of research expertise and welcomes invitations of speaker roles in line with his research and publication interests