astronomy

Matthew Woollard

Matthew Woollard is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Matthew Woollard rather than just read about it. In short: Matthew Woollard OBE (born May 1967) is Professor of data policy and governance in the UK Data Archive at the University of Essex. He served as Director of the UK Data Service and UK Data Archive from 2010 to 2023.

Key takeaways

Matthew Woollard belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Matthew Woollard to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Matthew Woollard from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Matthew Woollard OBE (born May 1967) is Professor of data policy and governance in the UK Data Archive at the University of Essex. He served as Director of the UK Data Service and UK Data Archive from 2010 to 2023.

Early life and education Woollard was brought up in St John’s Wood in London. He was educated at The Hall School, Hampstead, Dean Close Junior School and Stowe School, before attending Goldsmiths, University of London, where he gained a BA (Hons) degree in history. In 1991, he received an MA with distinction from the Institute of Historical Research. He received his PhD in 2005 from the University of Essex with a thesis on the development of occupational classification in the British Isles between 1660 and 1911.

Academic career After receiving his MA, Woollard worked as a Research Assistant on a project supporting the development of an English version of Kleio, a database analysis system for historians. He then worked as a Research Associate on the Bristol Historical Databases project at the University of the West of England from 1993 until joining the University of Essex History Department as a Research Officer in 1996. At Essex, he helped develop a database of nineteenth-century census data that fed into the North Atlantic Population Project. In 2003, he joined the UK Data Archive as Head of Service for the History Data Service (AHDS History), which formed part of the Arts and Humanities Data Service. He became associate director and Head of Digital Preservation and Systems at the UK Data Archive in 2006. In 2010, he became Director of the UK Data Archive and the Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS), which was later expanded into the UK Data Service in October 2012. Woollard was appointed as the first Director of the UK Data Service, holding this position until 2023. As UK Data Service Director, he played a key role in establishing the Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives (CESSDA), acting as Vice Chair of the CESSDA Board of Directors from 2013 to 2015. He also served as a UK representative on the OECD Expert Group for legal issues relating to new forms of data, as well as the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures, and was editor of the journal History and Computing.

Honours and awards Woollard was awarded an OBE in the King’s Birthday Honours List 2024 for services to data science. He has also been awarded a Data Champions Award for his efforts in advancing data, accessibility and promoting responsible data practices.

Selected bibliography Corti, L., Van den Eynden, V., Bishop, L and Woollard, M. (2019) Managing and Sharing Data: A Guide to Good Practice (2nd edition), London: Sage Publications. Corti, L., Van den Eynden, V., Bishop, L and Woollard, M. (2014) Managing and Sharing Data: A Guide to Good Practice, London: Sage Publications. Beagrie, N., Lavoie, B., & Woollard, M. (2010). Keeping Research Data Safe 2: Final Report. Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC). http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/publications/reports/2010/keepingresearchdatasafe2.pdf Grover, C., Tobin, R., Byrne, K., Woollard, M., Reid, J., Dunn, S., & Ball, J. (2010). Use of the Edinburgh geo-parser for geo-referencing digitized historical collections. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 368(1925), 3875–3889. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2010.0149

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Matthew Woollard

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Matthew Woollard claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Matthew Woollard before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Matthew Woollard ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Matthew Woollard

In research: Matthew Woollard appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Matthew Woollard in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Matthew Woollard is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1967 births, 20th-century British historians, 21st-century British historians, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Matthew Woollard outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Matthew Woollard in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Matthew Woollard means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Matthew Woollard out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Matthew Woollard in simple terms?

Why does Matthew Woollard matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Matthew Woollard?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Matthew Woollard.