Contact
Biography
Dr Matty Hall's expertise is using theories from political philosophy to examine empirically grounded security practices, such as surveillance and criminal justice detention. He is particularly interested in the ethical implications of coercive practices like police surveillance, and how the use of concepts like dignity, rights and autonomy within institutions like prisons, transform their meaning and consequence.
Matty completed a PhD in 2017. In it, he asked why surveillance is so widespread in liberal democracies, societies that ostensibly cherish values like liberty and privacy? In doing so, he investigated the ways that surveillance is used to enforce many liberal 'settlements', such as citizenship, welfare and rights.
Following this Matty taught political theory and politics between 2017 and 2019 at Royal Holloway and the University of Reading.
Between 2018 and 2019 Matty was an ESRC post-doctoral fellow in the department of Philosophy, Politics and International Relations at Royal Holloway, University of London.
From 2019 to 2023 Matty was a senior research analyst for Trilateral Research, a research institute that specialises in conducting ethics assessments and regulatory analysis of emerging security technologies in Horizon2020 and Horizon Europe research projects.
Matty is currently a research fellow on 'REgulating Criminal justicE Detention' (RECEDE) in which he is using political theory to research the role of regulators in detention spaces across courts, custody and prisons.
Expertise Summary
Surveillance and theories of domination
Ethics and politics of emerging security technologies
Regulation of carceral spaces
Empirically driven political philosophy.
Teaching Summary
I have a particular interest in teaching how politics, political theory and political philosophy intersects with prominent sociological and criminological issues such as power, prisons and… read more
Research Summary
I am currently working with colleagues on a European Research Council Project called RECEDE: Regulating Criminal Justice Detention under the lead of Professor Philippa Tomczak. The study encompasses… read more
Recent Publications
I have a particular interest in teaching how politics, political theory and political philosophy intersects with prominent sociological and criminological issues such as power, prisons and surveillance systems.
I have taught on the following courses:
'Modern Political Thought'
'Political Theories of Freedom'
''Contemporary Political Theory',
'Classic Readings',
'Freedom' (Applied core ideas of politics such as citizenship, the state, rights and liberty to cover key issues of contemporary society, such as welfare distribution, reproductive rights, and immigration),
Political Ideas' (Interdisciplinary module drawing students from politics, social sciences, law, international relations, philosophy and political theory to investigate the key ideas of freedom from a number of practical and policy perspectives, such as prisons, the nation state, surveillance and welfare distribution)
Current Research
I am currently working with colleagues on a European Research Council Project called RECEDE: Regulating Criminal Justice Detention under the lead of Professor Philippa Tomczak. The study encompasses police, court and prison detention and aims to understand how different actors - both state and non-state - regulate these spaces.
Latest article:
- Hall, M., Tomczak, P., (2026) Resisting and enabling domination: voluntary organizations' efforts to regulate prison and police detention, The British Journal of Criminology.
Article in preparation
- Hall, M., 'Absorbing austerity: How regulation reinforces the path dependencies created by austerity in prisons in England and Wales'
Past Research
Policy and Research Papers
- Hall, M., 2023. 'Ethics and Human Rights Impact Assessment'. TRACE deliverable D8.1, Horizon2020, Brussels.
- Hall, M., 2022. 'Six Possible Futures for Populism'. PaCE deliverable D4.6, Horizon2020, Brussels.
- Hall., M., 2022. 'Ethical, Social and Legal impact Guidance for Tracking Illicit Money flows'. TRACE deliverable D8.3, Horizon 2020, Brussels.
- Hall, M., 2021, 'QAnon' in Historical and Political Development of Populism in Europe, D1.1, PaCE deliverable, Horizon2020, Brussels.
- Hall, M., 2020, 'Analysis of Data Protection, Privacy, Ethical and Social issues in the Prosecution of Tax Crimes', D6.1, PROTAX deliverable, Horizon2020. Brussels.
Media Articles
- Hall, M., 2021. 'Against Vaccine Passports', Tribune Magazine
- Hall, M., 2024. Assisted Dying Could Make Some Lives Not Worth Living, Novara Media,