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Dr Evangelos Ntontis

Profile summary

  • Central Academic Staff
  • Lecturer in Psychology
  • Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences
  • School of Psychology & Counselling
  • Psychology
  • evangelos.ntontis

Professional biography

I received my undergraduate degree from the Department of Philosophy, Education, and Psychology at the University of Ioannina in Greece in 2013. During my undergraduate studies, Greece entered an economic recession and saw the extreme rise of the far right. It was that time that I developed an interest in social psychology and social movements as I was trying to understand how a neo-Nazi party suddenly appealed to such a large part of the population. In 2014-15 I did an MSc in Psychological Research Methods at the University of Dundee in Scotland where, under the supervision of Prof Nick Hopkins I explored how anti-abortion activists use psychological narratives in an attempt to wider people's support for their movement. In 2015 I started my PhD at the University of Sussex under the supervision of Profs John Drury, Richard Amlot, James Rubin, and Richard Williams. During that period I explored how community groups emerge during disasters and how they endure or decline in the long-term aftermath of flooding, which led to the development of an active interest in the relationship between collective behaviour and climate change. Since then, my research interests have expanded while remaining focused around these areas of social psychological inquiry. Together with my colleagues I have conducted research in a range of issues including how people respond to extreme events (e.g., flooding, pandemics), how they perceive risk during such incidents, how the structure of our societies and particular social roles and identities contribute to the development of stress, how leaders of social movements and organisations mobilize solidarity, mass violence, or engagement in risk behaviours, how volunteering during disasters can be sustained, and how social psychological theory can help us further develop effective community resilience policy and practice to climate change. For my research I use both qualitative and quantitative methods including interviews, naturalistic data, surveys, and experiments among others. I joined the Open University in 2021 as Lecturer in Social Psychology, and in 2024 I was promoted to Senior Lecturer. Before joining the OU, I had a position at Canterbury Christ Church University as Lecturer in Social Psychology. Since 2023 I have been an Associate Editor for the British Journal of Social Psychology.

 

Research interests

My main research interests revolve around three broad thematic areas:

Collective behaviour during extreme events: I have conducted research on the emergence of community groups during extreme events and their effects on individuals and communities, and have examined the psychosocial processes behind their endurance or decline during the aftermath of such events. I have used the Social Identity framework to show that groups emerge due to the sudden shared experience of common fate which causes the emergence of a shared social identity amongst those affected. This becomes the basis for social support and wellbeing, but such groups do not endure for a long time and infrastructure must be provided to them by authorities. In this context, my research has also addressed the collective basis for risk perception during extreme events, the factors that underpin long-term volunteering, and the factors that shape people's purchasing behaviours when a disaster hits. Together with my colleagues I have tried to dismantle the idea of "panic-buying", revealing the adaptive capacities and udnerstandings of such behaviours. 

Social movements and mass mobilisation: For years I have been conducting research on social movements and particularly regarding influence and the mobilisation of particular behaviours. Using both identity-based and discursive frameworks, I have explored how psychological narratives are used by anti-abortion activists to increase the appeal of their arguments to the general public. In relation to leadership, I have examined how leaders try to mobilise mass violence (in the case of Donald Trump and the storming of the US Capitol) or risk behaviours (In the case of the Greek Church supporting the practice of spoon-sharing during the COVID-19 pandemic). In this line of work, I supported my colleague and former PhD student Klara Jurstakova to explore the role of leadership and mass mobilisation during the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia that took place in 1989. 

The social dynamics of stress: I have recently developed an interest in how social and organisational structures across various parts of our societies can lead to stress. Together with other colleagues we have developed the notion of 'secondary stressors' to better understand how pre-disaster deficiencies or inefficient responses to extreme events by authorities and other institutions exacerbate experiences of stress. This was evident during the COVID-19 pandemic when the impacts of the latter on NHS healthcare staff significantly worsened due to systemic deficiencies (e.g., lacking infrastructure) but also due to social psychological dynamics (e.g., a lack of leadership or appropriate communication) that impacted upon individual and team performance. I have applied the concept of secondary stressors to understand the stress process in healthcare but also in the general population and in more marginalised groups. Our findings show that people who occupy more precarious positions due to systemic inequality (e.g., women, minority groups) experience more secondary stressors which leads to the enduring presence of stress. 

 

Indicative papers

Drury, J., Carter, H., Cocking, C., Ntontis, E., & Guven, S.T. (2019). Facilitating collective resilience in emergencies and disasters: Recommendations based on the social identity approach. Frontiers in Public Health, 7(141). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2019.00141

Ntontis, E., Bozatzis, N. & Kokkini, V. (2023). Leadership, mobilisation of risky behaviours, and accountability: The Church of Greece leaders’ public talk during the COVID-19 pandemic. British Journal of Social Psychology, 62(4), 1839-1855). https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12658

Ntontis, E., Blackburn, A.M., Han, H., Stockli, S., Milfont, T.L., Tuominen, J., Griffin, S.M., Ikizer, G., Jeftic, A., Chrona, S., Nasheedha, A., Liutsko, L. & Vestergren, S. (2023). The negative effects of secondary stressors on psychological wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the protective effects of social identity and social support. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 88: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2023.102007

Ntontis, E., Drury, J., Amlôt, R., Rubin, J.G., & Williams, R. (2018). Emergent social identities in a flood: Implications for community psychosocial resilience. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 28(1), 3-14. https://doi.org/10.1002/casp.2329

Ntontis, E., Drury, J., Amlôt, R., Rubin, J.G., & Williams, R. (2020). Endurance or decline of emergent groups following a flood disaster: Implications for community resilience. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2020.101493

Ntontis, E., Vestergren, S., Saavedra, P., Neville, F., Jurstakova, K., Cocking, C., Lay, S., Drury, J., Stott, C., Reicher, S.D., & Vignoles, V. (2022). Is it really “panic buying”? Public perceptions and experiences of extra buying at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. PLoS One. 17(2): e0264618. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0264618

Ntontis, E., Jurstakova, K., Neville, F., Haslam, S.A. & Reicher, S.D. (2024). A warrant for violence? An analysis of Donald Trump’s speech before the U.S. Capitol attack. British Journal of Social Psychology, 63(1), 3 – 19. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12679

Williams, R., Ntontis, E., Alfadhli, K., Drury, J. & Amlôt, R. (2021). A social model of secondary stressors in relation to disasters, major incidents, and conflict: Implications for practice. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2021.102436

Teaching interests

I have an active interest in creating teaching materials in social psychology and qualitative research methods. I was the co-chair of DE100, have participated in DE100, DE200 and D110, and have written materials and co-chaired D110. 

External collaborations

I was a member of the Social Psychology Section of the British Psychological Society between 2017-2020. I have peer-reviewed papers for various academic journals in the areas of social psychology (e.g., British Journal of Social Psychology, European Journal of Social Psychology), general psychology (e.g., BJPsych Open, PLoS One), and disasters (e.g., Disaster Prevention and Management, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction) among others. The research conducted by myself and my collaborators has been the basis of discussions with non-academic organizations such as the UK's Civil Contingencies Secretariat, NHS Health Education England, and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. I have colleagues in various countries including the UK, Chile, Greece, Turkey, Netherlands, USA, and Australia to name a few. 

Publications

Impresarios of identity: How the leaders of Czechoslovakia's ‘Candlelight Demonstration’ enabled effective collective action in a context of repression (2024-01)
Jurstakova, Klara; Ntontis, Evangelos and Reicher, Stephen
British Journal of Social Psychology, 63(1) (pp. 153-169)

A warrant for violence? An analysis of Donald Trump's speech before the US Capitol attack (2024-01)
Ntontis, Evangelos; Jurstakova, Klara; Neville, Fergus; Haslam, S. Alexander and Reicher, Stephen
British Journal of Social Psychology, 63(1) (pp. 3-19)

Mourning and orienting to the future in a liminal occasion: (Re)defining British national identity after Queen Elizabeth II’s death (2024)
Obradović, Sandra; Martinez, Nuria; Dhanda, Nandita; Bode, Sidney; Ntontis, Evangelos; Bowe, Mhairi; Reicher, Stephen; Jurstakova, Klara; Kane, Jazmin and Vestergren, Sara
British Journal of Social Psychology ((Early access))

Can group‐based strategies increase community resilience? Longitudinal predictors of sustained participation in Covid‐19 mutual aid and community support groups (2023-11-07)
Perach, Rotem; Fernandes‐Jesus, Maria; Miranda, Daniel; Mao, Guanlan; Ntontis, Evangelos; Cocking, Chris; McTague, Michael; Semlyen, Joanna and Drury, John
Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 53(11) (pp. 1059-1075)

Leadership, mobilization of risky behaviours and accountability: The Church of Greece leaders' public talk during the COVID-19 pandemic (2023-10-06)
Ntontis, Evangelos; Bozatzis, Nikos and Kokkini, Vasiliki
British Journal of Social Psychology, 62(4) (pp. 1839-1855)

“I'll wait for the English one”: COVID‐19 vaccine country of origin, national identity, and their effects on vaccine perceptions and uptake willingness (2023-10)
Atkinson, Mark; Ntontis, Evangelos; Neville, Fergus and Reicher, Stephen
Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 17, Article e12837(10)

Mediation analysis of conspiratorial thinking and anti-expert sentiments on vaccine willingness (2023-04)
Blackburn, Angélique M.; Han, Hyemin; Gelpí, Rebekah A.; Stöckli, Sabrina; Jeftić, Alma; Ch'ng, Brendan; Koszałkowska, Karolina; Lacko, David; Milfont, Taciano L.; Lee, Yookyung; COVIDiSTRESS II Consortium, ; Vestergren, Sara and Ntontis, Evangelos
Health Psychology, 42(4) (pp. 235-246)

The effects of secondary stressors, social identity, and social support on perceived stress and resilience: Findings from the COVID-19 pandemic (2023)
Ntontis, Evangelos; Blackburn, Angélique M.; Han, Hyemin; Stöckli, Sabrina; Milfont, Taciano L.; Tuominen, Jarno; Griffin, Siobhán M.; Ikizer, Gözde; Jeftic, Alma; Chrona, Stavroula; Nasheedha, Aishath; Liutsko, Liudmila and Vestergren, Sara
Journal of Environmental Psychology, 88, Article 102007

‘All together now’: Facilitators and barriers to engagement in mutual aid during the first UK COVID-19 lockdown (2023)
Cocking, Chris; Vestergren, Sara; Ntontis, Evangelos and Luzynska, Katarzyna
PLOS ONE, 18, Article e0283080(4)

Social identification and risk dynamics: How perceptions of (inter)personal and collective risk impact the adoption of COVID‐19 preventative behaviors (2023)
Atkinson, Mark; Neville, Fergus; Ntontis, Evangelos and Reicher, Stephen
Risk Analysis, 44(2) (pp. 322-332)

Tracking the nature and trajectory of social support in Facebook mutual aid groups during the COVID-19 pandemic (2022-06-15)
Ntontis, Evangelos; Fernandes-Jesus, Maria; Mao, Guanlan; Dines, Tom; Kane, Jazmin; Karakaya, Joshua; Perach, Rotem; Cocking, Chris; McTague, Michael; Schwarz, Anna; Semlyen, Joanna and Drury, John
International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 76, Article 103043

Is it really “panic buying”? Public perceptions and experiences of extra buying at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic (2022-02-25)
Ntontis, Evangelos; Vestergren, Sara; Saavedra, Patricio; Neville, Fergus; Jurstakova, Klara; Cocking, Chris; Lay, Siugmin; Drury, John; Stott, Clifford; Reicher, Stephen and Vignoles, Vivian L.
PLOS ONE, 17, Article e0264618(2)

Glass children: The lived experiences of siblings of people with a disability or chronic illness (2022)
Hanvey, Imogen; Malovic, Aida and Ntontis, Evangelos
Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 32(5) (pp. 936-948)

Examining the role of Donald Trump and his supporters in the 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol: A dual-agency model of identity leadership and engaged followership (2022)
Haslam, S. Alexander; Reicher, Stephen D.; Selvanathan, Hema Preya; Gaffney, Amber M.; Steffens, Niklas K.; Packer, Dominic; Van Bavel, Jay J.; Ntontis, Evangelos; Neville, Fergus; Vestergren, Sara; Jurstakova, Klara and Platow, Michael J.
The Leadership Quarterly, 34, Article 101622(2)

COVIDiSTRESS diverse dataset on psychological and behavioural outcomes one year into the COVID-19 pandemic (2022)
Blackburn, Angélique M.; Vestergren, Sara; the COVIDiSTRESS II Consortium, and Ntontis, Evangelos
Scientific Data, 9(1)

How participation in Covid‐19 mutual aid groups affects subjective well‐being and how political identity moderates these effects (2021-12)
Mao, Guanlan; Drury, John; Fernandes‐Jesus, Maria and Ntontis, Evangelos
Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 21(1) (pp. 1082-1112)

More Than a COVID-19 Response: Sustaining Mutual Aid Groups During and Beyond the Pandemic (2021-10-20)
Fernandes-Jesus, Maria; Mao, Guanlan; Ntontis, Evangelos; Cocking, Chris; McTague, Michael; Schwarz, Anna; Semlyen, Joanna and Drury, John
Frontiers in Psychology, 12, Article 716202

Harnessing Shared Identities to Mobilize Resilient Responses to the COVID‐19 Pandemic (2021-10)
Vignoles, Vivian L.; Jaser, Zahira; Taylor, Frankiebo and Ntontis, Evangelos
Political Psychology, 42(5) (pp. 817-826)

A social model of secondary stressors in relation to disasters, major incidents and conflict: Implications for practice (2021-09)
Williams, Richard; Ntontis, Evangelos; Alfadhli, Khalifah; Drury, John and Amlôt, Richard
International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 63, Article 102436

Collective resilience in the disaster recovery period: Emergent social identity and observed social support are associated with collective efficacy, well‐being, and the provision of social support (2021-07)
Ntontis, Evangelos; Drury, John; Amlôt, Richard; Rubin, G. James; Williams, Richard and Saavedra, Patricio
British Journal of Social Psychology, 60(3) (pp. 1075-1095)

What have we learned about COVID-19 volunteering in the UK? A rapid review of the literature (2021)
Mao, Guanlan; Fernandes-Jesus, Maria; Ntontis, Evangelos and Drury, John
BMC Public Health, 21, Article 1470

Antiabortion Rhetoric and the Undermining of Choice: Women's Agency as Causing “Psychological Trauma” Following the Termination of a Pregnancy (2020-06)
Ntontis, Evangelos
Political Psychology, 41(3) (pp. 517-532)

Endurance or decline of emergent groups following a flood disaster: Implications for community resilience (2020-05)
Ntontis, Evangelos; Drury, John; Amlôt, Richard; Rubin, G. James and Williams, Richard
International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 45, Article 101493

Public behaviour in response to the COVID-19 pandemic: understanding the role of group processes (2020)
Drury, John; Carter, Holly; Ntontis, Evangelos and Guven, Selin Tekin
BJPsych Open, 7(1)

“An Important Part of Who I am”: The Predictors of Dietary Adherence among Weight-Loss, Vegetarian, Vegan, Paleo, and Gluten-Free Dietary Groups (2020)
Cruwys, Tegan; Norwood, Rebecca; Chachay, Veronique S.; Ntontis, Evangelos and Sheffield, Jeanie
Nutrients, 12, Article 970(4)

Facilitating Collective Psychosocial Resilience in the Public in Emergencies: Twelve Recommendations Based on the Social Identity Approach (2019-06)
Drury, John; Carter, Holly; Cocking, Chris; Ntontis, Evangelos; Tekin Guven, Selin and Amlôt, Richard
Frontiers in Public Health, 7

What lies beyond social capital? The role of social psychology in building community resilience to climate change. (2019)
Ntontis, Evangelos; Drury, John; Amlôt, Richard; Rubin, Gideon James and Williams, Richard
Traumatology, 26(3) (pp. 253-265)

A Glossary for Research on Human Crowd Dynamics (2019)
Adrian, Juliane; Bode, Nikolai; Amos, Martyn; Baratchi, Mitra; Beermann, Mira; Boltes, Maik; Corbetta, Alessandro; Dezecache, Guillaume; Drury, John; Fu, Zhijian; Geraerts, Roland; Gwynne, Steve; Hofinger, Gesine; Hunt, Aoife; Kanters, Tinus; Kneidl, Angelika; Konya, Krisztina; Köster, Gerta; Küpper, Mira; Michalareas, Georgios; Neville, Fergus; Ntontis, Evangelos; Reicher, Stephen; Ronchi, Enrico; Schadschneider, Andreas; Seyfried, Armin; Shipman, Alastair; Sieben, Anna; Spearpoint, Michael; Sullivan, Gavin Brent; Templeton, Anne; Toschi, Federico; Yücel, Zeynep; Zanlungo, Francesco; Zuriguel, Iker; Van der Wal, Natalie; van Schadewijk, Frank; von Krüchten, Cornelia and Wijermans, Nanda
Collective Dynamics, 4 (pp. 1-13)

Community resilience and flooding in UK guidance: A critical review of concepts, definitions, and their implications (2018)
Ntontis, Evangelos; Drury, John; Amlôt, Richard; Rubin, Gideon James and Williams, Richard
Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 27(1) (pp. 2-13)

Framing a ‘social problem': Emotion in anti-abortion activists' depiction of the abortion debate (2018)
Ntontis, Evangelos and Hopkins, Nick
British Journal of Social Psychology, 57(3) (pp. 666-683)

Emergent social identities in a flood: Implications for community psychosocial resilience (2017)
Ntontis, Evangelos; Drury, John; Amlôt, Richard; Rubin, G. James and Williams, Richard
Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 28(1) (pp. 3-14)

The Dynamics of Leadership and Resistance in Repressive Regimes: The Cases of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and Polish People’s Republic (2024-07)
Jurstakova, Klara; Ntontis, Evangelos and Nigbur, Dennis
In: Zeineddine, Fouad Bou and Vollhardt, Johanna Ray eds. Resistance to Repression and Violence: Global Psychological Perspectives (pp. 262-281)
ISBN : 9780197687703 | Publisher : Oxford University Press | Published : New York, NY, USA

How do people respond to climate change? (2024)
Ntontis, Evangelos
In: McGrath, Laura and Turner, Jim eds. D110 Exploring psychological worlds: thinking, feeling, doing (pp. 427-476)
Publisher : The Open University | Published : Walton Hall, Milton Keynes

Primary and Secondary Stressors: The Ways in Which Emergencies, Incidents, Disasters, Disease Outbreaks, and Conflicts Are Stressful (2024)
Williams, Richard; Ntontis, Evangelos; Drury, John; Alfadhli, Khalifah and Amlôt, Richard
In: Williams, Richard; Kemp, Verity; Porter, Keith; Healing, Tim and Drury, John eds. Major Incidents, Pandemics and Mental Health: The Psychosocial Aspects of Health Emergencies, Incidents, Disasters and Disease Outbreaks (pp. 42-48)
ISBN : 9781009019330 | Publisher : Cambridge University Press | Published : Cambridge, UK

Collective Psychosocial Resilience as a Group Process Following Flooding: How It Arises and How Groups Can Sustain It (2024)
Ntontis, Evangelos and Zhang, Meng Logan
In: Williams, Richard; Kemp, Verity; Porter, Keith; Healing, Tim and Drury, John eds. Major Incidents, Pandemics and Mental Health: The Psychosocial Aspects of Health Emergencies, Incidents, Disasters and Disease Outbreaks (pp. 160-165)
ISBN : 9781009019330 | Publisher : Cambridge University Press | Published : Cambridge, UK

Facilitating the Public Response to COVID-19: Group Processes and Mutual Aid (2024)
Drury, John; Ntontis, Evangelos; Fernandes-Jesus, Maria and Mao, Guanlan
In: Williams, Richard; Kemp, Verity; Porter, Keith; Healing, Tim and Drury, John eds. Major Incidents, Pandemics and Mental Health: The Psychosocial Aspects of Health Emergencies, Incidents, Disasters and Disease Outbreaks (pp. 166-172)
ISBN : 9781009019330 | Publisher : Cambridge University Press | Published : Cambridge, UK

How can Covid Mutual Aid Groups be Sustained Over Time? The UK Experience (2023-12)
Drury, John; Fernandes-Jesus, Maria; Mao, Guanlan; Ntontis, Evangelos; Perach, Rotem and Miranda, Daniel
In: O'Dwyer, Emma and Silva Souza, Luiz Gustavo eds. Psychosocial Perspectives on Community Responses to Covid-19: Networks of Trust and Social Change (pp. 79-90)
ISBN : 9781032295060 | Publisher : Routledge

Collective Resilience and the COVID-19 Experience (2023-12)
Cocking, Chris; Ntontis, Evangelos; Vestergren, Sara and Luzynska, Katarzyna
In: Miller, Monika K. ed. The Social Science of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Call to Action for Researchers (pp. 272-283)
ISBN : 9780197615164 | Publisher : Oxford University Press | Published : Oxford, UK

Groups, identity and behaviour (2023)
Ntontis, Evangelos
In: McGrath, Laura and Turner, Jim eds. D110 Exploring psychological worlds: thinking, feeling, doing (pp. 227-267)
ISBN : 978 1 4730 3510 2 | Publisher : The Open University | Published : Walton Hall, Milton Keynes

Attitudes, rhetoric and persuasion (2023)
Ntontis, Evangelos
In: McGrath, Laura and Turner, Jim eds. D110 Exploring psychological worlds: thinking, feeling, doing (pp. 183-225)
ISBN : 978 1 4730 3510 2 | Publisher : The Open University | Published : Walton Hall, Milton Keynes

Solidarity (2020)
Ntontis, Evangelos and Rocha, Carolina
In: Jetten, Jolanda; Reicher, Stephen; Haslam, S. Alexander and Cruwys, Tegan eds. Together apart: The psychology of COVID-19 (pp. 102-106)
ISBN : 9781529752090 | Publisher : Sage Publications Ltd. | Published : London

The impact of COVID-19 on the psychosocial and mental health needs of NHS and social care staff: Final report on literature published between 2021 and 2022 (2022)
Ntontis, Evangelos; Luzynska, Katarzyna; Wright, Abigail and Williams, Richard
Open University

The impact of COVID-19 on the psychosocial and mental health needs of NHS and social care staff. The final report on literature published to mid-2021. (2021-12)
Ntontis, Evangelos; Luzynska, Katarzyna and Williams, Richard
The Open University

PhD supervisors and faculty members might help to avoid burnout as well as enhance engagement and organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) among PhD students. (2018)
Saavedra, Patricio; Ntontis, Evangelos and Kyprianides, Arabella
University of Sussex, University of Sussex.