Fr. Matthew Carnes, S.J., is an assistant professor in the Department of Government. His research examines the dynamics of labor and social welfare policy, with particular interest in the ways societies protect their weakest and most vulnerable members: the old, the young, the ill or injured, and the unemployed.

In 2011, he was awarded the Dorothy Brown Award for Outstanding Teaching Achievement, Georgetown University’s highest teaching award, presented by the student body to the faculty member who has had the strongest impact on the students' university experience. In addition, at the Tropaia Ceremony for Georgetown College, he was awarded the Edward B. Bunn, S.J. Award for Faculty Excellence, given by the graduating seniors in the College of Arts and Sciences. He was also recently featured in the Princeton Review's 2012 publication, 300 Best Professors.

His principal areas of research are comparative labor law, the politics of social policy, and political economy, and he has conducted extensive field research in Argentina, Peru, and Chile.
His research has appeared in the British Journal of Political Science, the Annual Review of Political Science, and the Oxford Handbook of Comparative Politics, and he has articles forthcoming in Latin American Research Review and Social Science Quarterly.