Dr Matt Cook

National Teaching Fellow 2014 Dr Matt Cook has taught in the Faculty of Lifelong Learning and then in the Department of History, Classics and Archaeology at Birkbeck, University of London, since 2005, and has been Birkbeck Director of the Raphael Samuel History Centre since 2008. Matt works across academic and popular history boundaries, encouraging hands-on and collaborative learning. "I felt we had agency in class" , said one Birkbeck student; "Matt is dynamic, engaging, supportive and very informed." He has worked with archives, museums, galleries and community groups to involve diverse audiences in history and history making. He is in particular demand during lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) History Month when he convenes archive workshops, debates and other events relating to his research on queer histories. These are histories that have a reach well beyond the university seminar room, he says, and participants agree: "I learned that my story mattered and how it related to others", said one. Another noted that a queer archive workshop inspired him "to see what bit of evidence I might have in my own attic". Archivists, curators and colleagues meanwhile attest to the way Matt inspires by example, encouraging others to reflect on how to best enable learners to develop their ideas and questions. His work has been recognised in a Birkbeck Award for Innovation in Teaching and in successful bids to the National Institute for Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) and Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) for an annual public history festival he has organised for adult learners across London since 2009.