I am Professor in Community Wellbeing in the Department of Social Work, Education and Community Wellbeing and a researcher in the Evolution and Social Cognition team at the Institut Jean Nicod, Paris. 

I study a number of different topics relating to behaviour, cognition, society and health. My current research projects are in one or more of the following areas:

• Economic and social inequality
• Trust, cooperation and antisocial behaviour
• Adversity and aging
• Hunger and food insecurity
• Moral and political cognition

My work spans the biological and social sciences. I am also interested more broadly in explanations in the behavioural sciences; in interdisciplinary synthesis; and in open science. Recently I have begun to explore how my work might apply to and support public policy.

In addition to my PURE record, you can download all of my research papers in some form via my website, even if it is not the publisher’s formatted version. You can also find information on the various books I have written and access an introductory R and statistics course I wrote.

I also write a blog on science, and society. 

• Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
• Act Now: A vision for a better future and a new social contract, Johnson, M., Dorling, D., Driscoll, J., Hardill, I., Hobbs, C., Johnson, E., Lawson, N., Nadel, J., Nettle, D., Pickett, K., Polanski, Z., Pollock, A., Reed, H., Robson, I., Stark, G., Taylor-Robinson, D., Wilkinson, R. 1 Jul 2024
• Can the ‘downward spiral’ of material conditions, mental health and faith in government be stopped? Evidence from surveys in ‘red wall’ constituencies, Johnson, M., Johnson, E., Reed, H., Nettle, D. 1 Feb 2024, In: British Journal of Politics and International Relations
• The health case for basic income, Johnson, E., Johnson, M., Nettle, D., Reed, H., Stark, G. 5 Feb 2024
• What’s the point of co-production when all your participants agree with you?, Johnson, M., Johnson, E., Hardill, I., Nettle, D. 11 Mar 2024
• Are ‘red wall’ constituencies really opposed to progressive policy? Examining the impact of materialist narratives for Universal Basic Income, Johnson, M., Johnson, E., Nettle, D. 1 Mar 2023, In: British Politics
• A socially secure, fully funded Britain: evidence on Basic Income and wealth tax, Johnson, E., Nettle, D., Pickett, K., Johnson, M. 31 Oct 2023
• Assessing the prospective impacts of Universal Basic Income on anxiety and depression among 14-24-year-olds, Johnson, M., Cookson, R., Villadsen, A., Mujica, F., Stark, G., Pickett, K., Johnson, E., Nettle, D. 2023
• ‘Basic income is our generation’s NHS. Labour needs to get on board’, Johnson, M., Johnson, E., Nettle, D. 26 Jun 2023
• Biology, Society, or Choice: How Do Non-Experts Interpret Explanations of Behaviour?, Nettle, D., Frankenhuis, W., Panchanathan, K. 20 Aug 2023, In: Open Mind
• Breaking the Overton Window: on the need for adversarial co-production, Johnson, E., Hardill, I., Johnson, M., Nettle, D. 23 Oct 2023, In: Evidence and Policy

• Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
• Invited talk: Modelling Public Acceptability of Tax and Benefit Changes 2024
• Invited talk: Universal Basic Income and public health crises: RSA North Report launch 2022

• Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
• Blog