Matthew's content expertise comes from his academic career. After studying cognitive science and neuroscience as an undergraduate, he elected to pursue linguistics for his master's degree at Cambridge. He brought those perspectives together when the multidisciplinary Center for Human Interactivity for his doctoral research, and his published work remains at the forefront of his subfield in new biology- and physics-based approaches to the study of language.
Six years later, Matthew's subject-matter knowledge can broadly be described as applying to the behavioral sciences, from psychology and sociology to organizational behavior, leadership studies, education, management, and some branches of biology, neuroscience, and medicine. While he is not a subject matter expert (SME) in these areas, a wealth of project experience has left him equipped to work with client-side SMEs and to conduct fast, reliable research using scientific and industry literature.
Matthew is a flexible writer when it comes to format, genre, and style. White papers and reports are an obvious fit, but he has spent much of the last several years writing blog posts, content marketing materials, and website copy. He is an adaptable writer used to collaborating with rapidly changing teams and working to tight deadlines.
Matthew's particular interests are human behavior, language and communication, and biological interaction.
More broadly, he writes often about leadership and management, health and well-being, medicine, and the environment.
Outside of work Matthew enjoys painting Warhammer minis, reading feminist science fiction, and a bunch of very boring stuff like dogs and hiking.
Double major in cognitive science and neuroscience. Extremely zealous student. Wrote a 125 page thesis that was bewildering to one examiner in its frenetic multidisciplinarity, but, when revised and posted to Academia.edu, ultimately earned the attention of his future PhD supervisor.
This one-year master's program combined introductory classes alongside undergraduates with master's-only seminars and a full trimester of dissertation research.
Matthew also sought out an independent study on the traditional Cambridge model: intense, in-depth discussions once per week with mountains of additional reading. That course of study, conducted with Philosophy of Language Professor Kasia Jaszczolt and leading into a master's dissertation that became his first scholarly publication, earned him the offer of a fully funded PhD position. Matthew ultimately chose to reject that offer in favor of a competing position at the University of Southern Denmark, where a new research group offered him the interdisciplinary opportunity he was seeking.
NOTE. This degree has not been awarded; Matthew has completed the research, all teaching and coursework requirements, and published six scientific articles that will ultimately comprise his dissertation, but has a small amount of writing still to do—as well, of course, as the thesis defense.
Matthew PhD topic is languaging and vocalization, two niche topics that draw on theoretical biology to offer a new framework for how language can be studied. The major influences on his work are enactivism (Varela, Maturana, Hutto, Noe, Di Paolo, Froese, Cuffari) and ecological psychology (Gibson, Heft, Reed, Turvey, Read, Chemero), although he has also written on actor-network theory and a number of other topics.
Matthew's experience with medical and healthcare writing starts with a summer internship at the Sackler Center for Biomedical Sciences while he was earning his BA in neuroscience. Since then, he has written websites, blog posts, pillar pages, white papers, brochures, public health PSAs, and deep-dives into health and medical topics, as well as product descriptions and sales material for MedTech and insurance firms.
Please note that Matthew is NOT a medical expert and has no formal medical education. He should be regarded as a scientifically literate general writer with a broad background—someone who can interview client-side SMEs but brings no true subject-matter expertise himself.
Matthew has produced a huge number of blog posts, thought leadership pieces, and marketing materials on business topics. He has also edited or advised some 20-odd doctoral dissertations on business and management topics. Although not a subject-matter expert, he is fluent in the terminology of many business-related fields and has a working knowledge of the literature on leadership and some aspects of organizational behavior.
As a general-audience blog and article writer, Matthew has frequently been brought on to handle lightwight health topics: nutrition, exercise, fad diets, sleep, meditation, commuting, and many more. He also regularly does deeper-dive articles on topics in public health.
This is a topic that overlaps usefully with Matthew's frequent work on medical and healthcare topics. His current blogging for men's health startup Grannus, for instance, involves consistent coverage of new publications in nutrition. He has a working knowledge of public health guidelines, and has written on nutrition-related topics in international development, personal health, dieting, and fitness.
Matthew handled all thought leadership and most LinkedIn writing for LifeSci Search for two years, 2021-2022. He has written about drug discovery, new pharmaceutical products, and MedTech applications, as well as pharma-related public health topics for nonprofit and corporate clients.
He holds a BA in neuroscience, which helps a little.
Matthew handled all thought leadership and most LinkedIn writing for LifeSci Search for two years, 2021-2022. He has written about drug discovery, new pharmaceutical products, and MedTech applications, as well as pharma-related public health topics for nonprofit and corporate clients.
He holds a BA in neuroscience, which helps a little.
Matthew has worked with a large number of financial clients, mostly startups and small financial advisory firms. He has done general web copy, services and about pages, and marketing materials for new FinTech innovations.
So many technology companies now deliver SaaS as a primary revenue source that Matthew has unavoidably had to take on SaaS topics. He has written on security, analytical tools, AI, and a wide range of productivity applications.
The huge majority of Matthew's work takes the form of research-based articles, from white papers to blog posts, thought leadership, and ebooks. Every article he writes strives to
1. Adopt the client's desired toned and personality
2. Engage readers by speaking their language and accurately addressing a specific target audience
3. Present true information—"facts in their proper context"—with ample citation and hard evidence
4. Offer a fun reading experience
He draws on a background as a researcher, six years working as a freelance marketing writer, and a deep love of the personal essay as a genre that blends information with personality and perspective.
There's an art to a good blog post: catchy titles, SEO headers and metadata, brainworm factoids, well-placed pullquotes...it all has to come together into something that feels like a projection of the individual or corporate identity behind it while also engaging and informing. And, of course, it can't outstay its welcome.
Matthew regularly takes on weekly or monthly blogging duties for companies, nonprofits, and individuals, either for SEO reasons or to build a genuine audience. He works closely with clients to establish clear expectations and acquire their intended voice, and typically provides the background research independently.
Matthew is a specialist in engaging web copy that uses every word well. He believes that the copywriter's job, unlike the content writer or journalist, is just to direct the reader's attention to the CTA, clickable link, or other action that either moves them down the sales funnel or gets them where they're trying to go.
His web writing experience includes landing pages, about pages and bios, product descriptions, and working with clients to develop appealing, useful descriptions of services.
"White paper" is a term that covers everything from phenomenally in-depth government reports—essentially the final word on a specific, narrow, policy-related question—to all sorts of brochure-style marketing documents.
Matthews work tends to hew more closely to the latter than the former, as a single freelancer typically lacks the resources to write a 400-page research document. Many organizations, however, need articles in the 2,000-5,000 word range that give a precise, strongly evidence-backed argument in favor of a regulatory or policy position. That's where Matthew's work shines.