Dr Matthew Hanchard

BA(Hons), MA, PhD, FHEA

School of Sociological Studies, Politics and International Relations

Research Fellow

(He/him)

Matthew S. Hanchard
Profile picture of Matthew S. Hanchard
m.s.hanchard@sheffield.ac.uk
iHuman, The Wave

Full contact details

Dr Matthew Hanchard
School of Sociological Studies, Politics and International Relations
iHuman
The Wave
2 Whitham Road
Sheffield
S10 2AH
Profile

Matthew is a digital sociologist and science and technology studies (STS) scholar based in the 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 Sheffield, 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 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)
  • 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 (2023) . Manchester: Manchester University Press.

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 MS () . Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases, 20(1).
  • Hanchard M () . searchRxiv.
  • Hanchard M () . Wellcome Open Research, 6, 361-361.
  • Hanchard MS () . Urban Planning, 5(4), 301-311.

Book chapters

  • Hanchard M (2025) In Zhang V & Anderson B (Ed.), The promise of cultural geography (pp. 167-169). Bristol and Durham: Cultural Geography (Un)limited Editions.
  • 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

  • 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)

Digital 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

  • 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

  • Pearce W, Borie M, Bruschi L, Dell'Orto D, Hanchard M, Pilipets E, Quets A & Xu Z (2025) , Center for Open Science.
  • Hanchard MS & San Roman Pineda I (2025) .
  • 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
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Grants
  •  Â£13,914 - Research England (internal funds), Principal Investigator (January 2023 to July 2023)
  • Patient access to orphan drugs in the UK from patients’ perspectives Â£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 Sheffield 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

2026-27
/ 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

Digital Media and Society BA

2026-27
/ September start
A Levels ABB
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 2026 start
  • 1 year 2 years Full-time Part-time

Investigate the latest digital media developments, data, and algorithms through the lens of prominent social issues, such as gender, race, health, intimacy, surveillance and activism. This course will advance your skills in qualitative, quantitative and digital research 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.