Matthew B. Ruby joined La Trobe University in 2017 as a Lecturer, and is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of
Psychology, Counselling and Therapy. He received his BA from Colby College in 2005 and earned his MA and PhD, both from the University of British Columbia, in 2008 and 2012, respectively. Afterward, he served as a DAAD Postdoctoral
Fellow at the Group for Society and Animals Studies (Fachbereich Sozialwissenschaften), University of Hamburg, from 2012–2013, and as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania from 2013 to 2017. His research centers on “the modern omnivore’s dilemma”– the conflict between people’s desire for meat and the costs of indulging this desire. In particular, he investigates how people decide which (animal) foods are acceptable to eat and which are not, how people reconcile the dissonance between loving meat and loving animals, and how omnivores and vegetarians perceive one another. Alongside his main program of research, he also has a keen interest in emotional and physical well-being, and how people can be encouraged to make more sustainable food choices.