Dr Matthew Woodcock

Profile

My role as Research and Impact Support Officer includes the following responsibilities:

• Supporting the School’s Director for Research and Innovation (DoRI) on all aspects of research administration, strategy, and review.
• Providing expert advice to colleagues on external and internal funding applications: working with colleagues on project design, applications, and drafting; offering particular expertise on impact and public engagement; providing support for post-award funding administration.
• Participation in internal selection for study leave applications and postdoctoral funding schemes; provision of individual support for the latter.
• Managing research communications and events: organising book launches, inaugural lectures, and public engagement events; editing a bi-annual research newsletter; developing website content relating to research and impact.
• Active involvement in preparations for the Research Excellence Framework (REF): facilitating anonymised output reviewing; briefing colleagues on updates to policy and processes; chairing the School’s REF working group; providing close support to the School’s Unit of Assessment lead on strategy planning.
• Supporting the School’s Director of Impact (DoI) on impact and working with colleagues across the School (including PGRs) to facilitate a culture of engaged research.
• Working with colleagues preparing impact case studies for REF 2029: running individual and group meetings, workshops, and bespoke training sessions; advising colleagues on impact components of funding bids; developing support resources; providing expert advice on case study design based on extensive experience of previous REFs and ongoing analysis of previous case studies and current scholarship.
• Managing research data and impact records using the Symplectic information management system.

I am a member of the Association of Research Managers and Administrators (ARMA) and I sit on ARMA’s Editorial Working Group.

Research interests

Prior to joining the School of English in December 2023, I worked for two years at Cambridge University Press in STEM publishing and before that held research and teaching positions in Oxford, Cork, London, and (most recently) at the University of East Anglia. I’ve published extensively in medieval and early modern literature and history, my works including Thomas Churchyard: Pen, Sword, and Ego (OUP, 2016), Early Modern Military Identities, 1560-1639 (Boydell, 2019), and a special issue of History journal on early modern espionage that appeared in 2023.

Professional memberships

• Fellow of the Royal Historical Society
• Association of Research Managers and Administrators (ARMA)