Dr Matthew Smith is an Associate Professor in Social Research Methods at the School of Social Sciences (SoSS). Prior to joining Heriot-Watt University, Matthew worked as a Lecturer in Strategy at Edinburgh Napier University and as a Lecturer in International Business at the University of Greenwich. 

Matthew's research interests are in the use of social network analysis models and techniques to tackle research problems in three main areas: corporate governance, the organisation of production, and collaboration. Matthew's research on corporate governance focuses on examining networks of individuals linked to firms via their board of directors. This line of research includes a variety of different empirical studies including investigating patterns of gender diversity in the corporate elite, the position of MPs in the corporate system, and the corporate networks of BCorps. The research on the organisation of production, focuses on mapping international trade and investment networks to comment on the structure of Global Values Chains (GVCs) in a range of industries. Matthew's research on collaboration focuses on the examination of knowledge exchange and inter-organisational collaboration networks and how these can be optimised for innovation and knowledge creation.