Conspiracy Psychology Lab Group
The Conspiracy Psychology Lab Group is led by Dr Daniel Jolley.
Our research broadly explores the psychology of conspiracy theories and misinformation. If you would like to join the Conspiracy Psychology Lab Group as a postdoc, postgraduate or as part of your UG studies at University of Nottingham, please review this page.
PhD Students
Tanya Schrader
Tanya is writing up her PhD at Staffordshire University, under the supervision of Dr Daniel Jolley and Sarah Krähenbühl, where she has been investigating the darker side of conspiracy theories; with a focus on agression and violence. She first joined the Lab Group as a BSc student, before graduating from her degree in 2017 and joining the PhD programme.
Tanya tweets at @Tanya_Schrader
Anna Maughan
Anna is a third-year PhD student at Northumbria University under the supervision of Dr Daniel Jolley, Dr Lee Shepard and Prof Nick Neave. Her PhD is broadly exploring and addressing medical conspiracy theories. She joined the Lab Group in 2021.
Anna tweets at @AnnaFMaughan
YUEHUI SUN
Yuehui is a first-year PhD student at the University of Nottingham under the supervision of Dr Daniel Jolley, Dr Brian O’Shea and Dr Laura Blackie. Her PhD is broadly exploring cooperation and conspiracy theory beliefs.
She received competitive funding from the China Scholarship Council Research Excellence Scholarship and joined the Lab Group in 2023.
Research Associates
DR MICHAEL HATTERSLEY
Michael is a postdoctoral Research Associate on a funded project exploring inequality and conspiracy theory beliefs. He gained his PhD from Warwick University, where he explored the Overfitting Hypothesis about conspiracy theory beliefs.
He joined the Lab Group in 2023.
alumni to the lab group
Dr Darel Cookson
Darel was awarded her PhD from Staffordshire University in 2022 (submission in 2021), under the supervision of Dr Daniel Jolley, Dr Robert Dempsey and Dr Rachel Povey. Her PhD has been investigating the links between social norms and belief in conspiracy theories. You can find two papers on her research here (GPIR) and here (PLOS ONE). She joined the Lab Group in 2017.
Darel tweets at @DarelCookson
Darel is now a Lecturer at Nottingham Trent University.
Eleanor Thomas
Ellie was a Research Assistant in 2019 working on the British Academy funded project, where we were developed a new measure of belief in conspiracy theories for young people. Ellie completed her MSc at Coventry University, before joining us as the RA on the project.
Eleanor tweets at @_Ellis_Thomas_
Eleanor is now completing a PhD at the University of Birmingham.