Rate My Professor Matt Cheeseman

Professor Matthew Cheeseman serves as Professor of Writing and Folklore at the University of Derby. A versatile writer and researcher, he operates across fiction and non-fiction genres, frequently collaborating with artists and designers. His scholarly pursuits as a folklorist center on indigeneity and nationalism. Cheeseman's academic credentials comprise a BA (Hons) in History from the University of Cambridge (1999), an MSc by Research in Health from the University of Gloucestershire (2009), a PhD in English focusing on Cultural Tradition from NATCECT at the University of Sheffield (2011), and a Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching from the University of Sheffield (2015).

In his research capacity, Cheeseman has been Principal Investigator for two AHRC-funded projects: Folklore Without Borders and Dracula Returns to Derby. His academic interests bridge folkloristics, medical humanities, sociology of higher education, and the theory and criticism of creative writing. He disseminates his findings via creative and critical writing, performance, and curation. Having supervised ten doctoral students—with four completions and six ongoing—he continues to mentor new PhD candidates.

Cheeseman boasts a prolific publication portfolio. Notable edited volumes include Folklore and Nation in Britain and Ireland (Routledge, 2022, co-edited with C. Hart), The Dictionary of Neoliberal Terms (four volumes, Spirit Duplicator, 2019–2020, co-edited with F. Collignon and J. Miller), Atlantis (Spirit Duplicator, 2016), and NO PICNIC: Explorations in art and research (NATCECT & AND Publishing, 2014). His contributions to edited collections encompass ‘English Nationalism, Folklore and Indigeneity’ in The Routledge Companion to Folk Horror (Routledge, 2023), ‘Introduction’ in Folklore and Nation in Britain and Ireland (2022), ‘Q.A.Q.?’ in Strategies of Silence: Reflections on the Practice and Pedagogy of Creative Writing (Routledge, 2021), ‘Ramblings: A Walk in Progress’ in Challenges and Solutions in Ethnographic Research (Routledge, 2020), and ‘Dracula’s fangs’ in The Derby Critical Edition of Dracula (Peregrine, 2019), among others addressing transnational poetries, youth subcultures, higher education, and creative writing techniques.