The Global Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. Matt's work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
About Matt
After starting my working life in the media, I moved into healthcare in 2004 as an NHS paramedic, a role I continue to this day. I moved into education in 2010, initially as a Practice Placement Educator and Visiting Lecturer on the BSc Paramedic Practice programme at the University of Brighton. In 2015 I joined the paramedic team at the University of Plymouth and in 2018 became Programme Lead for the BSc Paramedic Science, overseeing the introduction of an updated curriculum and steering the programme through the many challenges of the Covid pandemic. In 2021 I began lecturing on the MSc Global Health and became Co-Lead of the Global Health Collaborative, helping to redesign and introduce a new suite of modules. Over the past few years I have developed and now lead the new MSc Expedition and Marine Medicine, bringing mountain, polar, tropical and marine medicine modules to Peninsula Medical School alongside a dedicated diving medicine strand, in partnership with DDRC and Endeavour Medical.
Outside of my employed work, my interest in global health led me to complete an MSc in Hazards and Disaster Management at Kingston University in 2013, after which I joined UK-Med as part of their emergency medical team responding to sudden onset international disasters. Having witnessed the 2015 Nepal earthquake and volunteered as a health worker in its aftermath, I have maintained strong links with the country and helped to establish a partnership between the University and Siddhasthali Rural Community Hospital, a non-profit hospital in Nepal. Together we have delivered training programmes for the local healthcare workforce and provided an elective programme for UK healthcare students, alongside first aid training for more remote communities in the country. These experiences have gone on to shape my PhD studies, which explore perceptions of prehospital care in Nepal, examining the barriers to both providing and accessing effective emergency medical care.
Teaching
Drawing on my clinical background as a paramedic, my main teaching interests lie in global and humanitarian health and the delivery of care in austere and resource-limited settings. As Programme Lead for the MSc Expedition and Marine Medicine, I teach across the programme, with a particular focus on mountain medicine and human factors in extreme environments. On the MSc Global Health programme I lead the Health in Humanitarian Emergencies module.
Contact Matt
SF25, Plymouth Allied Health Centre, College of St Mark & St John, Plymouth, PL6 8BH
+44 1752 588879
matthew.griggs@plymouth.ac.uk
