Social scientist · Data analyst · Barcelona

José Luis (Pep)
Mateos González

I study inequalities in higher education and turn survey data into clear evidence for policy, using R, Power BI and a fair amount of curiosity.

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Portrait of José Luis Mateos González in Kyoto
01

About

I'm a data analyst and project manager with a PhD in sociology of higher education (Durham). I work at the Catalan University Quality Assurance Agency (AQU Catalunya), doing applied research on how graduates fare in the labour market and how universities can become fairer.

Most of my days involve collecting, managing and analysing large surveys of university graduates and employers, then building visualisations and reports that decision-makers actually read. Before Barcelona, I spent several years in UK academia, at Durham and York, researching access to postgraduate study, student loans and international students. That work was featured in Forbes and Times Higher Education.

  • Agentic coding
  • R
  • Power BI
  • Tableau
  • Survey research
  • LimeSurvey
  • Data visualisation
  • Policy analysis
  • Report writing
  • English · Español · Català
6
peer-reviewed journal articles
10+
research & policy reports
17
dissertations supervised
3
working languages
02

Experience & education

Experience

  1. 2021 — now

    Project manager & senior advisor

    AQU Catalunya

    Graduate employment surveys, employer surveys and indicator systems for Catalan universities, including a diversity, equity & inclusion indicator framework.

  2. 2022 — 2025

    Associate lecturer

    Faculty of Political Science & Sociology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

  3. 2018 — 2021

    Research associate, module leader & tutor

    University of York

    Provided research support to the Head of the Department of Education. Taught quantitative methods and higher education policy at master's level.

  4. 2020

    Commissioned researcher

    The Sutton Trust

    National report on socioeconomic inequalities in access to postgraduate study.

Education

  1. 2015 — 2019

    PhD in Sociology & Social Policy

    Durham University · ESRC-funded

    Thesis on non-EU international students and institutional hierarchies in UK higher education. Passed with no corrections.

  2. 2014 — 2015

    MA in Social Research Methods

    Durham University · Distinction · Special Achievement Prize (top of class)

  3. 2009 — 2013

    BA in History

    University of Barcelona · Extraordinary award (top of class)

  4. 2022

    Certificates in Power BI and data programming

    Barcelona Chamber of Commerce · Col·legi de Politòlegs i Sociòlegs

03

Publications

Peer-reviewed articles

Selected reports & chapters

04

Press coverage & talks

Press articles that have covered my research.

El País Tu origen social determinará tus estudios: Medicina si eres de clase alta y Educación social, si eres de baja March 2025 ↗ Forbes Overcoming the class ceiling at work July 2021 ↗
Times Higher Education English master's loans “almost entirely erased” rich–poor entry gap July 2020
The i Master's degree loans led to more working-class people staying on in university July 2020
Times Higher Education Poor students less likely to pick “golden triangle” for master's August 2019 ↗

Invited talks

Selected conferences

  • INQAAHE Conference, Astana 2023
  • SRHE Annual Conference, Newport 2019
  • European Conference on Educational Research, Hamburg 2019
  • European Sociological Association, Manchester 2019
  • British Sociological Association, Newcastle 2018
  • Consortium of Higher Education Researchers, Cambridge 2016
05

Teaching

I've taught quantitative methods, the sociology of education and higher education policy at undergraduate and master's level in Spain and the UK.

  • Associate lecturer, Education Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona · 2022 — 2025
  • Module leader, Introduction to Quantitative Methods & Data Analysis University of York · MA · 2020/21
  • Module leader & tutor, Higher Education in the 21st Century University of York · MA · 2018 — 2021
  • Tutor, Social Justice and Education University of York · MA · 2018 — 2021
  • Guest lecturer, Advanced Perspectives in Sociology Durham University · 2017/18
  • Supervised 14 master's and 3 undergraduate dissertations 2018 — 2021
  • Associate Fellow of AdvanceHE Durham Learning & Teaching Award · 2016

From a student's farewell card

H1: Pep is a brilliant lecturer

VariableEffect size
Quants_knowledgeLarge*
HE_knowledgeLarge*
Great_teacherLarge*
Sense_of_humourLarge*
Entertaining_lecturesLarge*

* p < 0.05

“Therefore, we reject the null hypothesis… Thanks for all your help — I couldn't have asked for a better teacher!”

Contact

Let's talk data,
education or both.

jlmateos@pm.me
LinkedIn ↗ Full CV (PDF) ↓