Matthews is a doctoral (SJD) candidate at Harvard Law School. Her primary academic interests are in international law, specifically at the intersection of criminal law, the law of war, and human rights law. Her dissertation undertakes a genealogy of the concept of international criminality, and seeks to theorize international criminal law from the point of view of the political. Heidi has experience in domestic criminal defense, and has worked for the Appeals Chamber of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, and the Office of the Prosecutor at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. She holds a BA from Mount Allison University, an LLB-BCL from McGill University, and an LLM (waived) from Harvard Law School. She is the recipient of a Doctoral Fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and the John Peters Humphrey Fellowship from the Canadian Council on International Law. While at Harvard, she has served as a teaching fellow for classes on gender and war, genocide, modern international conflict, and ethics and international relations.