Matt Withers

Dr Matt Withers is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Sociology, The Australian National University (ANU). He joined ANU in 2022 after research fellowships at Macquarie University (2019–2022) and the University of Toronto (2018). His work critically examines temporary labour migration's role in development across the Asia-Pacific, with a focus on Sri Lanka and the South Pacific. He leads the Together, Apart: Transnational Family Separation in the PALM Scheme project (2023–2025). Withers holds a PhD in Political Economy and has published extensively on migration, remittances, and transnational social reproduction.

Education: BA (Sociology), MPolEc (Political Economy), PhD (Political Economy). His research integrates global political economy and migration studies, addressing themes like remittance economies, gendered care work, and emigration policy-making. His 2025 book Emigration States: Migration-Development Policymaking in the Asia-Pacific critiques state policies shaping migration outcomes.

Research interests span migration-development linkages, transnational families, and the sociological implications of temporary labour migration. His recent work highlights how guestworker programs deplete social reproduction capacities in sending regions, emphasizing gendered impacts and policy gaps. He is affiliated with the ANU Migration Hub, contributing to interdisciplinary migration research.

Advising: Registered to supervise research students. Grants: Leads a 3-year project on Pacific labour mobility's family separation effects. Publications include over 25 articles, with 2024 focus on pandemic responses, remittance resilience, and Pacific migration policy critiques.