Matt completed the MSc in Evidence-Based Social Intervention in 2008, followed by the DPhil in 2011 as a Green Templeton College Scholar. While at Barnett House, Matt worked with Paul Montgomery, focusing on youth empowerment programs both globally and in the Middle East, evaluation of complex interventions, and systematic review methods. During this period, Matt led the department’s course on community analysis, was named the UK’s International Student of the Year by the British Council, and won the Barnett House Award for Student Research.
After finishing the DPhil, Matt joined the Obama Administration in the U.S. government as a Special Advisor on child and youth policy and then the World Bank through its Young Professionals Program. He has used skills learned at Barnett House to contribute to evidence-based policy-making in the U.S. and to lead research and evaluation projects on a range of youth, gender, and development issues at the World Bank. He continues an affiliation with the Barnett House as Associate Member of the Centre for Evidence-Based Intervention.
The DPhil and MSc training offered enormous value to Matt’s professional path, equipping him with both methodological skills for evaluation and “real world” project management experience in a developing context. He draws on this preparation on a daily basis.
Matthew says,
“I don’t think there’s any program in the world that offers quite what Barnett House does—a comprehensive training in rigorous methods for evidence-based practice with an orientation towards complex social interventions. These skills are in huge demand. Beyond the content, however, the key to my development at Barnett House was the combination of flexibility and one-on-one support I received from world class faculty.”
