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Matthew Jackman

Matthew Jackman, (they/them)

International Visiting Student Fellow
DepartmentCentre for Disability Research and Policy, University of Sydney
EducationDoctoral Researcher, University of Sydney; NDIS Lived Experience Theory and Practice Funded Studentship; Certificate IV Training and Assessment, Plenty Training; International Dip Mental Health, Human Rights and Law, Indian Law Society; Bachelor of Social Work (Honours), Monash University; Postgraduate Certificate in Mad Studies, Queen Margaret University; Masters of Advanced Social Work, University of Melbourne

I am a doctoral researcher undertaking a National Disability Insurance Scheme Participant-funded PhD on Lived Experience Theory and Practice in Mental Health at the University of Sydney. My PhD project investigates the global mapping, history, activism and future direction of the user/refuser/consumer, psychiatric and trauma survivor, ex-patient and inmate, and Mad movement (c/s/x/m). Using a qualitative research design conducting WHO regional-based focus groups and deepening this knowledge with dyadic interviews with (c/s/x/m) leaders, the PhD addresses gaps in the broader movements' collective aims, goals, values, principles, sustainability and future direction. The PhD is grounded in Mad studies, and I am an insider-outsider Mad researcher, who identifies as part of the Mad Pride movement. I am a WHO Consultant for meaningful engagement in Non-Communicable ‘Diseases’. Furthermore, I was awarded the National Mental Health Advocate of the Year in 2020 by Mental Health Australia. I see my Madness as a dangerous gift that requires harnessing for the betterment of my (c/s/x/m) community and social movement, and my PhD as a conduit for Mad activism.

Matthew is a Commissioner (co-author) on the Lancet Psychiatry Commission on Lived Experience in Mental Health Research, led by Traumascapes and the Service User Research Enterprise at King’s College London.