Dr Matt Offord
- Senior Lecturer in Leadership and Management Education (Management)
telephone:
0141 330 3680
email:
Matt.Offord@glasgow.ac.uk
Biography
Matt is a leadership scholar committed to teaching responsible and ethical leadership through ecopegagogy (fostering ecological awareness). His approach to teaching is based on experiential learning which incorporates outdoor learning, games and case teaching to complement more traditional approaches. Matt is an Associate Director for Learning and Teaching at Adam Smith Business school, part of the learning and teaching leadership team. In this role, Matt focuses on the Scholarship of Learning and Teaching (SoTL) and advocating the role of scholarship in business education.
Matt teaches at undergraduate and postgraduate level focusing on 21st Century Leadership and Management which includes environmental sustainability and governance (ESG) as well as data and AI and its impact on modern leadership. Matt works with business partners to develop professional education through innovative approaches, such as educational escape rooms.
Matt is a second-career academic, starting at Adam Smith Business School after 30 years service in the Royal Navy as a submarine officer and mine clearance diver.
Research interests
Matt is a member of the School's Human Resource Management and Organisational Behaviour research cluster.
Matt's study in sociocultural evolution was used to explain the importance of prestige in leadership and how leadership structures evolve. More recently he used cultural phylogenetic analysis to explore academics' response to Covid-19 lockdowns by using flexible imitation to evolve new teaching techniques. This led to an interest in Gabriel Tarde, a 19th Century sociologist who promoted microsociology and imitation as channels for cultural evolution
His specific interests are:
- Computational Social Science
- Cultural Evolution of Leadership and Higher Education
- Imitation
- Gabriel Tarde
- Leadership in the 21st Century
- Prestige
- Social Networks
Grants
Grant | Description |
Amount |
---|---|---|
Innovation Audit 2024 | Funding for the development and commercialisation of educational escape rooms for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion training in the maritime industry | £5000 |
Chancellor's Fund 2023 - 2025 | The Ecopedagogy Teaching Project: Creating Sustainable and Affordable Impact for Future-Oriented Leaders | £1500 |
Aspect Innovation Fellowship 2023 | Development and evaluation of escape room games for teaching in maritime education | £8000 |
ASBS Research Reinvigoration Fund 2022 | Research into free-riding in group work in business educaiton |
£2000 |
Supervision
Matt is interested in supervising in the following fields:
- Ecopedagogy
- Experiential Learning Theory
- Outdoor Learning
- Agent Based Models in teaching
- Business simulation games
- Digital business education
- Pedagogy of simulation
- Sociocultural evolution in the leadership studies field
- Mazid, Tasfia
The Role of Paradoxical Leadership in Influencing Followers to Deal with Multiple Contradictory Demands'
Matt currently supervises three PhD students studying paradoxical leadership, post-heroic leadership and emotional intelligence. Matt has also supervised undergraduate Business & Management students and MBA students.
Teaching
Matt is a Senior Fellow of Recognising Excellence in Teaching (RET) and Certified Management and Business Educator (CMBE). He is the School academic lead for Technology Enhanced Learning and Teaching (TELT) and AI. As an Associate Director of Learning and Teaching, with a focus on scholarship, Matt supports other teaching focused academics to publicise their work and develop teaching focused careers. He also mentors early career learning and teaching academics and PhD tutors.
Matt specialises in the use of experiential learning theory in outdoor learning, serious games, simulations and case teaching. He teaches at undergraduate and postgraduate level, and has delivered executive education around the world. Matt has published research on the use of educational escape rooms and also works with business partners to use escape rooms in learning development programmes.
Interests:
- Ecopedagogy
- Experiential Learning Theory
- Outdoor Learning
- Serious Games
- Business Simulation Games
- Digital Educational Escape Rooms
Professional activities & recognition
Prizes, awards & distinctions
- 2024: Shortlisted for the Best Innovation Strategy Award (Association of MBAs and Business Graduates)
- 2023: Shortlisted for the Innovation in Business Education Award 2023 by QS Reimagine Education 10th Anniversary Edition (QS)
- 2023: Distinction in MSc (Digital Education) (University of Edinburgh)
- 2021: Distinction in Post Graduate Certificate of Academic Practice (University of Glasgow)
Research fellowships
- 2023 - 2023: Aspect Innovation Fellow
- 2016 - 2017: RN Hudson Fellow (Oxford University)
- 2010 - 2017: RN Defence Fellow
Editorial boards
- 2022 - 2023: Continuity and Resilience Review (Special Edition)
Professional & learned societies
- 2023: Member, British Academy of Management
- 2022: Senior Fellow, Recognising Excellence in Teaching (RET)
- 2017: Fellow, The Institute of Leadership
Selected international presentations
- 2022: 27th International Command and Control Research and Technology Symposium (Quebec City)
Additional information
Matt was shortlisted for the Best Innovation Strategy Award 2024 at the Association of MBA & Business Graduates Association Excellence Awards for the Futures In Leadership Course (4th Year Honours - Business and Management)
Matt was also instrumental in Adam Smith Business School being shortlisted for the Innovation in Business Education Award by QS Reimagine Education in 2023