Dr Matt Smith is Reader (Assoc Prof) in Digital Learning Contexts at the University of Wolverhampton. He predominantly works on mobile and digital learning, particularly in the Globalised South and with remote and/or marginalised communities; digital literacy; and decolonisation. He co-authored a major report for the Department for International Development's EdTech Hub on lessons learned to support governments' digital responses to the educational crisis brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Amongst other internationally-collaborative research efforts, Dr Smith has worked in Palestine focusing on developing mobile technologies for supporting the teaching of English; and in Brazil, supporting school populations to influence virus control through mobile applications. He was Principal Investigator on an Erasmus+ project with partners across Europe creating a new online collaborative approach to textbook work. With Prof John Traxler, Dr Smith co-edited Digital Learning in Higher Education – COVID-19 and Beyond, charting the effects of the pandemic on digital learning across the UK Higher Education sector. He is the Coordinator for the UNESCO Chair on Innovative Informal Digital Learning in Disadvantaged and Development Contexts, and is currently investigating the potential for leveraging GenAI to support remote and/or marginalised communities.
Education Sciences Outstanding Reviewer Award 2024
MDPI
MDPI 2024 Top 1000 Reviewers
MDPI
Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
Advance HE

Outstanding Reviewer Award
MDPI
Awarded by Education Sciences in 2025