Professor and Principal Research Fellow at Queensland University of Technology

Ben Mathews is a Professor and Principal Research Fellow in the School of Law at Queensland University of Technology. He is an Adjunct Professor at Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health, was a Professorial Fellow to the Australian Royal Commission Into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, and has served on two World Health Organization Guideline Development Groups on Health Sector Responses to Child Maltreatment.

Professor Mathews has published 3 books, 20 government reports, and 100 refereed articles and chapters. His multidisciplinary research focuses on how social and legal systems can best prevent, detect, and respond to child maltreatment, within a framework of law, public health and children’s rights. His work analyses the impact of law and policy on lived experience, and its efficacy as an agent of change. He has special research expertise on child sexual abuse prevention (within and beyond institutional settings), civil statutes of limitation, child protection systems generally, and the theory, law and practice of mandatory reporting laws.

He has obtained $4.8m in competitive grant funding and has completed numerous funded research projects for Australian governments. He combines multidisciplinary science with engagement and knowledge translation, and he regularly advises governments on reform needs. His research has influenced multiple reforms to legislation, policy and practice, and the impact of this work has been recognised by University-wide awards. He is currently leading the Australian Child Maltreatment Study, a national survey of 8500 Australians aged 16 and over, which will identify for the first time the prevalence in the population of all forms of child abuse and neglect, their associated mental and physical health outcomes, and burden of disease.