Hanchard, Matthew, Dr

Dr Matthew Hanchard

BA(Hons), MA, PhD, FHEA

Department of Sociological Studies

Research Fellow

(He/him)

m.s.hanchard@sheffield.ac.uk

iHuman, The Wave

Full contact details

Dr Matthew Hanchard
Department of Sociological Studies
iHuman
The Wave
2 Whitham Road
91ֱ��
S10 2AH

Profile

Matthew is a digital sociologist and science and technology studies (STS) scholar based in the iHuman Institute. His research examines the social consequences of technology (data/information flow in particular), changing cultures of cultural consumption, medical sociology, and research methodology (including mixed, multi-modal, and digital methods). To date, Matthew has published two books (one sole-authored, one co-authored), fifteen peer-reviewed articles, and has spoken at numerous events and conferences worldwide.

At the University of 91ֱ��, Matthew works as Research Fellow for the Wellcome Trust funded project. His past and other ongoing research includes:

Working group member (October 2022 to October 2026) for the EU COST funded action CA21141
Principal investigator (January 2023 to July 2023) for the Research England (internally) funded Fostering cultures of open qualitative research project
Co-investigator (January-July 2022) for the Research England (internally) funded Patient access to orphan drugs in the UK from patients’ perspectives project
Co-investigator (January 2023 to January 2024) The social lives of patients’ stories: the roles of accounts of rare disease from innovation to authorisation and marketing of orphan drugs (SLoPS)
Research Associate (July 2018 to February 2021) for the AHRC-funded "
Co-Investigator (February 2019 to May 2020) for the University of Sydney-University of Glasgow partnership collaboration award (PCA) funded project
Early career investigator (October 2015 to March 2018) for the EC COST funded action TU1305 on , including a short-term scientific mission (STSM) at the (TØI) in October 2016

Mathew has a from University of Derby (2006), an from Goldsmiths, University of London (2008), and a from Newcastle University (2019). He worked full-time through all three degrees, gaining 15+ year of industry experience in housing policy, software development and implementation, staff training and development, and railway infrastructure maintenance

Research interests

Data studies / Software studies
Digital geographies / Digital sociology / Digital society
Mobile media studies / New media studies / Internet studies
Medical sociology / Sociology of health and illness
Research methods and methodologies

Publications

Books

Hanchard M (2024) Engaging with Digital Maps Our Knowledgeable Deferral to Rough Guides. Palgrave Macmillan.
Wessels B, Merrington P, Hanchard M & Forrest D (2022) . Manchester University Press.
Wessels B, Merrington P, Hanchard M & Forrest D (2022) Film Audiences Personal Journeys with Film.

Journal articles

Hanchard MS (2024) . Sociology of Health & Illness.
Chesher C, Hanchard M, Humphry J, Merrington P, Gangneux J, Joss S, Maalsen S & Wessels B (2023) . Digital Geography and Society.
Hanchard M, Merrington P & Wessels B (2023) The dynamics of audience practices: Mobilities of film consumption. Participations, 19(1), 1-15.
Hanchard M, Merrington P, Wessels B, Rogers K, Pidd M, Yates S, Forrest D, Higson A, Townsend N & Smits R (2023) . Emerald Open Research, 1(1).
Hanchard M, Merrington P, Wessels B & Yates S (2023) . Emerald Open Research, 1(1).
Hanchard M (2022) . Wellcome Open Research, 7.
Gangneux J, Joss S, Humphry J, Hanchard M, Maalsen S, Merrington P & Wessels B (2022) . Journal of Urban Technology, 28(2), 1-22.
Hanchard M (2021) . Wellcome Open Research, 6.
Hanchard M, Merrington P & Wessels B (2021) . Open Screens, 4(1), 1-12.
Merrington P, Hanchard M & Wessels B (2021) . Journal of British Film and Television, 18(2), 198-222.
Hanchard M, Merrington P & Wessels B (2020) Being part of an audience: Patterns of contemporary film audience experience. Participations, 17(2), 115-132.
Hanchard M, Merrington P, Wessels B, Rogers K, Pidd M, Yates S, Forrest D, Higson A, Townsend N & Smits R (2020) . Emerald Open Research, 2.
Hanchard M, Merrington P, Wessels B & Yates S (2019) . Emerald Open Research, 2019(1).
Merrington P, Hanchard M, Wessels B, Pidd M, Rogers K, Forrest D, Smits R, Higson A, Townsend N & Yates S (2019) . Cultural Trends, 28(2-3), 118-131.
Hanchard DMS (2016) How to define and treat materials in social theories of practice. EASST Review.
Hanchard M (2010) Google Street-View: shaping the identity of spaces. Street Signs, 2010, 26-27.
Hanchard M () . searchRxiv.
Hanchard M () . Wellcome Open Research, 6, 361-361.
Hanchard MS () . Urban Planning, 5(4), 301-311.

Chapters

Merrington P, Hanchard M & Wessels B (2024) , The Palgrave Handbook of Comparative New Cinema Histories (pp. 15-34). Springer International Publishing
Merrington P, Hanchard M, Wessels B, Pidd M, Rogers K, Forrest D, Higson A, Smits R, Townsend N & Yates S (2023) , Audience Data and Research (pp. 38-51). Routledge
Julsrud TE & Hanchard M (2019) , Digital Social Networks and Travel Behaviour in Urban Environments (pp. 108-131). Routledge
Hanchard M (2018) , Time for mapping Manchester University Press

Conference proceedings papers

Hanchard DMS (2019) Engaging digital maps: citizens’ uneven potential to effect change vs. the legitimation of an error-prone image of the world
Hanchard DMS (2019) Through falling in love it’s like he’s seeing this landscape, seeing that beauty
Hanchard DMS (2018) Developing a Computational Ontology from Mixed-Methods Research: A workflow and It’s challenges
Hanchard DMS (2015) Towards a digital sociology of cartography
Hanchard DMS (2015) STSM Scientific Report Presentation
Hanchard DMS (2012) Digital Cartography and users
Hanchard DMS () ’Modelling socio-cultural factors in film genre
Hanchard DMS () Digital Citizens and their use of Maps

Reports

Hanchard M & Pineda ISR (2023)
Wessels B, Humphy J, Gangneux J, Hanchard M, Chesher C, Joss S, Maalsen S, Merrington P, Dowling R, Goggin G & Horst H (2020) Public Perceptions of Smart Street Furniture in London and Glasgow: insights for Policy and Practice
Hanchard DMS, Hanchard M, Merrington P & Wessels B (2020)

Website content

Hanchard M (2020) Exploring the socio-demographics of screen choice for film-viewing.
Hanchard M (2019) Using NVivo to structure a computational ontology.
Hanchard M (2015) How NVivo can help you conquer writer’s block.
Hanchard M (2013) Towards a Digital Sociology of Cartography.
Hanchard M Have Digital Maps Altered Our Experience of Urban Surroundings?.

Posters

Borie M, Bruschi L, Chen A, Dell'Orto D, Hanchard M, Pearce W, Pilipets E, Quets A & Xu Z (2022) According to Google Images: Visual epistemologies of climate change and biodiversity loss. University of Amsterdam.

Theses / Dissertations

Hanchard DMS Anchoring digital maps as rough guides.

Datasets

Hanchard M & Pineda ISR (2023) .
Hanchard M & Pineda ISR (2023) .
Hanchard M (2021) .
Hanchard M (2021) .
Pidd M, Rogers K, Hanchard M, Merrington P, Forrest D, Higson A, Smits R, Townsend N, Wessels B & Yates S (2020) .
Higson A, Townsend N, Smits R, Merrington P, Hanchard M, Forrest D, Pidd M, Wessels B & Yates S (2020) Beyond the Multiplex-Policy and Industry document analysis.
Hanchard M (2020) .
Hanchard DMS (2019) .
Forrest D, Merrington P, Hanchard M, Higson A, Pidd M, Townsend N, Smits R, Wessels B & Yates S (2019) Beyond the Multiplex-Film Elicitation.
Yates S, Hanchard M, Merrington P, Higson A, Forrest D, Pidd M, Smits R, Townsend N & Wessels B (2019) Beyond the Multiplex-Three-wave Survey.
Wessels B, Merrington P, Hanchard M, Higson A, Forrest D, Pidd M, Smits R, Townsend N & Yates S (2019) .

Presentations

Forrest D & Hanchard M " Through Falling in Love It’s Like He’s Seeing This Landscape, Seeing That Beauty": The Film Worlds of’God’s Own Country’.
Forrest D, Hanchard M, Higson A, Merrington P, Pidd M, Rogers K, Smits R, Townsend N, Wessels B & Yates S Using a Computational Ontology and Mixed-Methods in Conceptualising Film Audiences.
Yates S & Hanchard M Modelling Socio-Cultural Factors in Film Genre Preferences: Empirically Comparing Bourdieu, Bauman and Goldthorpe.
Hanchard M & Merrington P Developing a Computational Ontology from Mixed-Methods Research: A Workflow and Its Challenges.
Hanchard M Engaging Digital Maps: Citizens’ Uneven Potential to Effect Change vs. the Legitimation of an Error-prone Image of the World.
Hanchard M & Merrington P Using Data Ontology to Understand the Relational Dynamics of Film Audiences.
Hanchard M Digital Citizens and their Use of Maps: How Digital Technologies Increase and Restrict Individual Agency in Everyday Life.
Hanchard M Rough Guides: Does Situated Deferral to Defaults Anchor Action?.
Hanchard M Location-based Services and Urban Navigation: a Qualitative Investigation of Transport Use in Oslo.
Hanchard M Practice Hacks: Exploring the Centrality of Materials in Social Change.
Hanchard M Practised Curation: How Power Distributed Through Digital Maps Anchors Everyday Life.
Hanchard M PhD Overview.

Other

Hanchard M (2024) .

Preprints

Bonina C, Clark RWA, Farran EK, Gameiro S, Hanchard M, Higman R, korzeniowska A, Sheppard N, Marcu A, Network R , Tumelty N et al (2024) , Center for Open Science.

Research group

Grants

Fostering cultures of open qualitative research £13,914 - Research England (internal funds), Principal Investigator (January 2023 to July 2023)
Patient access to orphan drugs in the UK from patients’ perspectives £4,575 - Research England (internal funds), Co-Investigator (January 2022 - July 2022)
AU $39,371 - University of Sydney-University of Glasgow PCA, Co-Investigator (February 2019 – May 2020)

Teaching interests

Matthew has Fellowship of the Higher Education Authority (FHEA) status and is currently working towards a PGCert (TLHE).

Prior to academic teaching, Matthew developed and delivered training material in a variety of roles and led the design and national delivery of a Microsoft SharePoint training programme across a third-sector organisation with over 1,200 staff.

In general, he prefers constructivist approaches to learning, with an emphasis on hands-on practical tasks and a focus on pairing criticality and conceptual thinking with the development of skills for (post)graduate employability. However, he remains sensitive to knowledge acquisition diversity and the need to reflexively balance his personal preferred mode of teaching with more didactic modes of pedagogy - depending on the needs and wants of a course cohort.

On education in general, Matthew is interested in the emerging role of generative AI and large-language models as an aid for teaching delivery, students' working practices, and assessment processes, and what that might mean for the future of knowledge production.

Teaching activities

Matthew began teaching at the University of 91ֱ�� as a Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) in 2015 (during his PhD), covering various modules/courses across the BA in Sociology and BA in Sociology with Social Policy (Sociological Studies) and MSc in Creative and Cultural Industries Management (Management School) programmes.

At the University of Glasgow he lectured on the , and Q-Step aligned programmes.

He currently teaches occasionally on the BA in Sociology and BA in Sociology with Social Policy (Sociological Studies) and the BA in Digital Media and Society and MA in Digital Media and Society programmes.

Undergraduate

Sociology BA

2025-26

/ September start

A Levels ABB

UCAS code L300

3 years

/ Full-time

Sociology focuses on the relationships between individuals and society. It revolves around examining how personal attitudes and experiences relate to wider issues, understanding how group phenomena can give collective meaning to an individual's actions, and on social change and the ways forces, like globalisation, impact upon society.

Undergraduate

Sociology with Social Policy BA

2025-26

/ September start

A Levels ABB

UCAS code LL34

3 years

/ Full-time

If you have an interest in debates surrounding social justice, fairness and equality, or just want the opportunity to learn more about areas of health, welfare, income, labour and migration, then the Sociology with Social Policy BA could be for you.

Creative and Cultural Industries Management MSc

Postgraduate taught

September 2025 start
1 year Full-time
Accredited

Our MSc Creative and Cultural Industries Management programme draws on the research, knowledge and workplace experience of a talented team of academics, who offer an excellent understanding of the business demands of managing creative enterprises and cultural organisations in the modern world.

Undergraduate

Digital Media and Society BA

2025-26

/ September start

A Levels AAB

UCAS code L391

3 years

/ Full-time

This course is unique in offering you the opportunity to develop a broad understanding of the relationship between digital media and society from a social science perspective. You will use innovative digital methods to research digital media in society, and learn to make digital media products that focus on the needs of the user.

Digital Media and Society MA

Postgraduate taught

September 2025 start
1 year 2 years Full-time Part-time

Explore the dynamic relationship between digital media and society through a sociological lens. Throughout this course you'll investigate the latest digital media developments, data and algorithms in terms of a range of social issues, such as gender, race, health, intimacy, surveillance and activism. You will gain valuable skills in qualitative, quantitative and digital methods.

Postgraduate Supervision: Matthew has supervised a variety of MA dissertations, including projects employing digital methods, network theory (i.e., networked individualism), and broader sociological concepts. He is particularly interested in empirically informed studies (qualitative and/or quantitative) that draw on science and technology studies (STS) thinking to examine the social consequences of specific technologies. However he is not currently available to act as a primary PhD supervisor.