Rate My Professor Matthew Bunn

Dr Matthew Bunn is an Honorary Lecturer in the School of Humanities, Creative Industries and Social Science, College of Human and Social Futures, at the University of Newcastle, Australia. He holds a PhD in Sociology/Anthropology, a Bachelor of Social Science (Honours), and a Bachelor of Social Science, all from the University of Newcastle. Bunn previously held the position of Research Fellow at the Centre of Excellence for Equity in Higher Education (CEEHE), where he conducted empirical research on student disadvantage and equity, including the 'Struggle and Strategy: Higher Education and Labour Market resources' project involving research design, qualitative interviewing, and analysis.

His research specializations include the sociology of inequalities, sociology of education, and voluntary risk-taking in extreme sports, with key interests in higher education equity, social class, regional/rural/remote access, care leavers, and the politics of equity knowledge. Bunn critiques superficial understandings of inequity that produce quick fixes while ignoring structural inequalities and marginalized 'absences'. He promotes dialogic connections between research and equity practice across policy, student support, and community engagement. His PhD examined the social phenomenology of risk perception in alpine, ice, and expedition climbing. Key publications include the book 'Energy, Resource Extraction and Society' (2018), highly cited article 'Lived experiences of environmental change: Solastalgia, power and place' (Askland & Bunn, 2018), 'Class in Australian higher education: The university as a site of social reproduction' (Bunn, Threadgold & Burke, 2020), 'Should I stay or should I go? The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on regional, rural and remote undergraduate students' (Cook et al., 2022), and recent '‘I felt like I was the only person in the world studying’: place and affect in the constitution of online higher education study for rural Australian students' (Bunn & Lumb, 2025). Bunn is on the editorial board of Access: Critical explorations of equity in higher education and contributes to the Graduate Certificate of Professional Equity and Inclusion.