Dr Matthew Wall

• The Internet’s Election: Meme warfare as reported by online print media during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign period (current)

  PhD

  Other supervisor: Dr Allaina Kilby

• Does The International Criminal Court Contribute to Peace? A Multi-Method approach including Quantitative and Case Study Analysis (current)

  PhD

  Other supervisor: Ms Leah Owen

• Investigating the impact of gamified forecasting on political engagement (awarded 2024)

  PhD

  Other supervisor: Dr Stephen Lindsay

• Friends with Benefits: An Investigation into the Formation and Utilization of Legislative Relationships. (current)

  PhD

  Other supervisor: Prof Jonathan Bradbury

• Towards a New Ontology of Polling Inaccuracy: The Predictive Benefits of Conceiving of Elections as Discontinuous Phenomena for the Study of Pre-election Polling Error (awarded 2023)

  PhD

  Other supervisor: Dr Bettina Petersohn

• A critical exploration of the development, form and effects of corporate digital surveillance on consumers and users (current)

  PhD

  Other supervisor: Dr William Merrin

• Felling the Blue Wall:«br /»«br /»«br /»«br /»«br /»«br /»«br /» Liberal Democrat Messaging and the 2024 General Election (current)

  MA

  Other supervisor: Dr Jack Tudor

• AM-100 American History and Politics

  This module examines the history and politics of the United States from the American Revolution to the present. Major topics include the American Constitution and the structure of government, conservatism and liberalism, race and ethnicity, the American Dream, reform initiatives, the civil rights movement, immigration, voting rights, and the United States as a superpower.

• PO-127 Disinformation, Ideology and Bias: Researching and examining political data

  ¿The point of modern propaganda isn't only to misinform or push an agenda. It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth.¿ - Garry Kasparov This module addresses one of the central challenges of contemporary politics: understanding the nature and role of political information. Our focus is the development of high-level information literacy. Throughout the module, students are shown how to analyse a variety of real-world examples of political information including campaign videos, social media posts, speeches, and news coverage by applying key concepts from the study of political communication. The themes of the module are informational manipulation (disinformation, misinformation, and propaganda); the political analysis of media content (bias and ideology); and psychological modes of media influence (priming, framing, and agenda-setting). As such, the module aims to empower students with an applied understanding of how to navigate the political information environments within which they are embedded. The module also engages students with the social science methods that have been developed to analyse research questions about the nature and impact of today's media environment in the realm of politics. This allows students to develop the conceptual vocabulary and thinking skills necessary to critique the assumptions, methods, and evidential standards that underlie academic analyses of these topics.

• PO-127A Disinformation, Ideology and Bias: Researching and examining political data

  ¿The point of modern propaganda isn't only to misinform or push an agenda. It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth.¿ - Garry Kasparov This module addresses one of the central challenges of contemporary politics: understanding the nature and role of political information. Our focus is the development of high-level information literacy. Throughout the module, students are shown how to analyse a variety of real-world examples of political information including campaign videos, social media posts, speeches, and news coverage by applying key concepts from the study of political communication. The themes of the module are informational manipulation (disinformation, misinformation, and propaganda); the political analysis of media content (bias and ideology); and psychological modes of media influence (priming, framing, and agenda-setting). As such, the module aims to empower students with an applied understanding of how to navigate the political information environments within which they are embedded. The module also engages students with the social science methods that have been developed to analyse research questions about the nature and impact of today's media environment in the realm of politics. This allows students to develop the conceptual vocabulary and thinking skills necessary to critique the assumptions, methods, and evidential standards that underlie academic analyses of these topics.

• PO-127B Disinformation, Ideology and Bias: Researching and examining political data

  ¿The point of modern propaganda isn't only to misinform or push an agenda. It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth.¿ - Garry Kasparov This module addresses one of the central challenges of contemporary politics: understanding the nature and role of political information. Our focus is the development of high-level information literacy. Throughout the module, students are shown how to analyse a variety of real-world examples of political information including campaign videos, social media posts, speeches, and news coverage by applying key concepts from the study of political communication. The themes of the module are informational manipulation (disinformation, misinformation, and propaganda); the political analysis of media content (bias and ideology); and psychological modes of media influence (priming, framing, and agenda-setting). As such, the module aims to empower students with an applied understanding of how to navigate the political information environments within which they are embedded. The module also engages students with the social science methods that have been developed to analyse research questions about the nature and impact of today's media environment in the realm of politics. This allows students to develop the conceptual vocabulary and thinking skills necessary to critique the assumptions, methods, and evidential standards that underlie academic analyses of these topics.

• PO-3121 Parliamentary Studies

  Parliamentary Studies is delivered in partnership between the Department of Politics, Philosophy and International Relations and Parliamentary officials from the Westminster Parliament Education Outreach Team. Swansea is one of only twenty-four universities in the UK sanctioned to provide this module, with the support of the Clerks of the House of Commons and the House of Lords. This module aims to equip students with academic and practical knowledge and skills around the UK Parliament, including detailed insights of the workings of Parliament and its relations with other parliamentary institutions. While Parliament remains a key body in the development and safeguarding of democracy in the UK, its functioning has also been subject to debate. It was at the heart of debates over the nature of the relationship between the executive and the legislature, the role of political parties, the reform of both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, and the theory and practice of parliamentary behavior, representation, and accountability. The UK¿s previous membership of the European Union has also stimulated debates over sovereignty of a pre- and post-Brexit UK. Similarly, devolution has stimulated discussions over Parliament¿s role in making laws across a multi-level polity. This module seeks to engage with these and other issues. Teaching includes tuition both by lecturers in the department and parliamentary staff as well as a field trip to the UK Parliament. The module emphasizes significant and active learning through a combination of traditional lecture-elements with seminar- and small-group activities and exchanges with practitioners like parliamentary clerks.

• PO-M32 Methodology in the Social Sciences

  This module introduces MA students to philosophical and methodological issues relating to the possibilities, purpose and conduct of the social sciences. These issues are of great importance for the development of thinking about how to study political theory, political science or international relations. The intellectual reflection demanded by this module will feed into students¿ approaches to their work in the sub-disciplinary modules and dissertation.

• PO-M89 Devolution in Comparative Perspective

  This module will examine various ways of conceptualising and explaining the importance of devolved forms of governance in Western democracies. The module will involve critical assessment of concepts and theories of territorial systems analysis; theories of territorial change lieing in claims based on minority nationalist demands for territorial autonomy; and theories of territorial change arising from developments in multi-level governance, a `Europe of the Regions¿, and non-nationalist `functional¿ arguments in favour of political decentralisation (e.g., devolution as a means of dispersing political power, increasing economic and administrative efficiency and bringing government `closer to the people/citizen¿). An empirical focus will be placed on the UK (with individual attention to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) Spain and Canada The module will conclude on discussions of the significance of devolution for state change in the early 21st century, considering both the dynamics of state reconfiguration and fragmentation.

• PO-M93 Analysing Politics and International Relations

  The module builds on the discussions and content covered in PO-M32 and aims to introduce students to some of the most prominent methods of data collection and analysis in politics and IR. By discussing selected research methods and drawing on their application in published research, the module seeks to empower students to identify and explain a suitable methodological approach for their MA dissertation, subsequently apply methods in their own research projects, and develop key research skills valuable for a variety of career paths. To do so, the core seminars combine lecture and seminar elements. Following a short lecture-style introduction, the core seminars will focus on active learning activities focused on supporting students in explaining, examining, and evaluating the application of research methods in prominent political science and IR publications. The workshops aim to support students in consolidating their mastery of the material.

• POA301 Parliamentary Studies project

  The module provides an opportunity for students who have undertaken the module PO-3121 ¿Parliamentary Studies¿ to do further sustained study on one aspect of parliamentary studies. Students will receive academic supervision, feedback, and advice on accessing primary and printed sources from within the Department of Politics, Philosophy, and IR in collaboration with the Houses of Parliament Education Outreach Team. By designing and realizing their own project in parliamentary studies, students will acquire and practice skills that are highly valuable for further studies in the social sciences and a variety of careers. These skills include breaking down a larger project into a series of work steps, planning and organizing work independently, appraising different positions in a debate based on the critical evaluation of evidence, and formulating and defending empirically an answer to important political questions.

• What are the odds? Capturing and exploring data created by online political gambling markets. 2014 - 2015

  Captured and curated online political gambling data resulting in a major peer reviewed publication in Electoral Studies, with Dr Rory Costello (University of Limerick) Dr Stephen Lindsay (Computer Science, Swansea), £60,870

• Director of Politics and Governance Research Network , Wales Institute of Social & Economic Research, Data & Methods

  2018 - Present

My public engagement work centres on Voter Advice Application websites, which provide voters with personalised insights into the policy platforms of parties competing in major elections. The most recent example of my work in this regard can be found at: https://www.whogetsmyvoteuk.com/#!/  

Building on this work, I have created interactive sessions with voters which have featured in the Oriel Science Museum, displays at the Welsh Parliament, and the National Waterfront Museum. I have appeared on BBC Wales, BBC Radio Wales, ITV Wales, and several local radio stations, as well as authoring pieces in the Guardian, The Daily Mail, the Western Mail, the South Wales Evening Post, and the Irish Times in promotion of this work.  

• ‘The Human Touch – How personal interaction can augment the positive effects of VAAs’ at the VOTE ADVICE conference: Technology

  February 2018

  The Nuffield Centre, London