Professor Matthew Mason

Professor Matt Mason gained his undergraduate degree at the University of Cambridge and went on to complete a PhD on the structure and function of the ear in mammals in the Department of Zoology. He then moved to the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), where he used laser interferometry to study the nanometer-amplitude vibrations of the ears of frogs, before returning to Cambridge in 2001. Matt is now the University Physiologist and Professor of Comparative Physiology in the Department of Physiology, Development & Neuroscience, placing him at the centre of undergraduate physiology and neurobiology teaching within the University. He teaches, examines and runs experimental practical classes for medical, veterinary and science students. Matt’s research continues to centre around the vertebrate ear, recent projects ranging from 3D reconstructions of 40-million-year-old fossil ears using micro-computed tomography, to a consideration of the microvasculature of the human ear ossicles and their embryological development.

Matt is accredited as a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Educators and Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. In 2018 he was awarded a Pilkington Prize for excellence in teaching within the University of Cambridge and he is the 2025 winner of the Physiological Society’s Otto Hutter Teaching Prize.