Matthew is a PhD student in the School of Politics and International Relations. He took his Bachelor of Arts (2008) majoring in English and Philosophy from the Australian National University. His doctoral research uses computational methods and process tracing to study China's organ transplantation industry. It focuses on empirical questions, while also using the case to explore the political logic of state control over citizen bodies.

Matthew has previously worked as a reporter, researcher, and translator for several nonprofit organizations, and as an interpreter (from Chinese) for financial services firms. His research using statistical forensics to demonstrate the falsification of Chinese organ donor registry data was published in the leading journal of medical ethics, BMC Medical Ethics. Other peer-reviewed publications he has co-authored have appeared in BMJ Open and The BMJ.