John works on the sociology of emergencies and existential threat. His is interested in the relationship between real and imagined disasters and social inequalities.
His previous work has involved analysis of preparedness campaigns and films from the Cold War in the UK and US, reappraising working class children's agency in the Aberfan disaster, community case studies on public information for terrorist attacks, comparative analysis of national cultures of preparedness and critiquing popular conceptions of existential threat from nuclear war to A.I. 'super-intelligence'.
John has acted as PI on both ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) and EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Science Research Council) interdisciplinary projects related to preparedness and disasters namely 'Preparedness pedagogies and race' (ESRC, 2009-2010), 'Game theory and adaptive networks for city evacuations'' (EPSRC, 2010-2013) and 'Threats to Infrastructure' (2012 - 2015). His ESRC Leadership Fellowship examines preparedness cultures across a number of comparative contexts (UK, US, Japan, Germany and New Zealand). He was PI of IAA2 (ESRC) which allows academics across the social sciences to access funds and events to increase the impact of their research. He was previously an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Leadership Fellow in Conflict, Crime and Security.
John's …
