Masters of the Bench

Professor Matthew Weait BA(Hons) (Cantab), MA (Lond) MPhil (Cantab), DPhil (Oxon) Director of Oxford's Continuing Education Department and Fellow of Harris Manchester College. He was Dean of the the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Portsmouth, and has taught law at the University of Oxford, the Open University and Keele University.  In 1992 he was one of the founding academics of the School of Law, Birkbeck, University of London - where he was Professor of Law and Policy and Pro-Vice-Master (Academic and Community Partnerships) until 2014.  Matthew's research is in the field of law and public health, focusing on the impact of law on HIV prevention.  He has contributed to the work of a number of international bodies, including UNAIDS, WHO (Europe), the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights and the Global Commission on HIV and the Law (UNDP).  He has been involved in the teaching of law and supervising legal research in universities for thirty years and was for three years a member of the Joint Academic Stage Board of the SRA and BSB.  Awarded a Queen Mother Major Scholarship, he was called to the Bar by the Hon. Soc. of the Middle Temple in 1999 (although he has never practised).  Outside his professional work, Matthew is a keen cook, pianist, and writer of fiction.  He lives in Waterloo.