Professor Ben Mathews has been appointed by QUT as a Distinguished Professor in recognition of his research, impact and eminence within the field of child maltreatment and leadership contribution to QUT. This is the first appointment of a Distinguished Professor in the history of QUT’s Faculty of Law.
Professor Mathews is a world-renowned research leader in the field of child maltreatment. Over 25 years he has made major contributions to knowledge in this field, with definitive advances through legal, conceptual, theoretical and empirical studies. These multidisciplinary studies have improved the capacity of governments, institutions, and social systems to prevent, identify, and respond to child maltreatment. His research into child sexual abuse has been particularly significant.
His publications include over 220 scholarly works, 50 law reform submissions, and nearly 200 high level presentations to key government agencies and sector stakeholders. He has obtained over $6m in competitive research funding, including grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council, Australian Research Council, and the Australian Government. He has successfully led and completed 12 major projects, many of which have influenced substantial reforms to law, policy and practice. His works have been cited over 5700 times in the scientific literature, and in numerous court judgments including in the High Court of Australia.
Through high quality research and engagement with policy-makers, his work has influenced impact in diverse fields within and beyond Australia. This includes:
- reform of civil statutes of limitation for child sexual abuse claims;
- the law, policy and practice of mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect;
- developing the proper conceptualisation of child sexual abuse; and
- measuring the national prevalence of child maltreatment and its associated health outcomes, influencing reforms to child protection and health systems.
His research, engagement and impact in multiple fields has been recognised within and beyond QUT. Professor Mathews was awarded the QUT Vice-Chancellor’s University Award for Research Impact in 2015 and the QUT Vice-Chancellor’s University Award for Research in 2019. He served as a Professorial Fellow to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, and is an Adjunct Professor at the world-renowned Johns Hopkins University in the USA. In 2025 he was named by The Australian as one of the nation’s Top 250 Researchers from all disciplines.
Recently, Professor Mathews completed the NHMRC-funded Australian Child Maltreatment Study (ACMS) as Lead Investigator of a large multidisciplinary team of Chief Investigators from Australia, the USA, and the UK. The ACMS is the landmark Australian study in this field, and is significant internationally. The ACMS involved the gold standard design and implementation of a survey of 8500 Australians to generate the first reliable evidence about the population-wide prevalence and characteristics of all forms of child maltreatment (physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, neglect, and exposure to domestic violence), and their associated mental disorders and health risk behaviours through life. Online sexual violence against children was also assessed. The ACMS generated numerous significant findings having major implications for Australian and State policy development across legal, health, education, and child protection portfolios. Professor Mathews’ extensive process of engagement and knowledge translation with Australian Government and State Government policy-makers has been described as unprecedented by senior Australian Government officials, and recommendations for specific reforms are already being adopted by key government departments in multiple States. The ACMS has also influenced recent similar studies overseas, including in the US and Canada.
The QUT School of Law congratulates Ben Mathews on his appointment as Distinguished Professor.
