Professor Matthew Allen is Executive Dean of Arts & Humanities at Edith Cowan University. Prior to joining ECU, Matthew led the School of Communication and Creative Arts at Deakin University (2013-2019), having worked in the schools of Social Sciences, and Media at Curtin University since 1994.
Matthew was Australia’s first Professor of Internet Studies establishing the Internet Studies department at Curtin University. A former president and life member of the international Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR), Matthew’s research has concerned the history and social meaning of the Internet, drug use and online communication, Australia’s development of broadband usage. His work on the history of Web 2.0 is widely cited. Matthew has co-edited two editions of the prestigious Handbook of Internet Research and was, most recently, chief editor of the journal Media International Australia.
Matthew is also a nationally recognized leader in higher education, having been awarded an Australian Award for University Teaching in Social Sciences (2000) and being a Fellow of the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (2009). He has written and presented extensively on online education. Matthew also has served as a director of the Internet Industry Association and was for a decade a member, and then chair, of the Library Board of Western Australia.