Dr Elliott Johnson

VC Fellow

School: Communities and Education

Elliott is a Vice Chancellor's Fellow in Public Policy at Northumbria University and Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He serves on Northumbria's Disability Equality Steering Group and the School of Communities and Education's (SCE) Ethics Review College, while leading SCE's Disability, Neurodiversity, Mental Distress and Lived Experience Expert Group. He is also Public Affairs & Impact Lead for the Common Sense Policy Group and co-ordinated work within SCE to publish the underpinning research produced by the Group's Beveridge-style transformative public policy platform, Act Now.

Elliott's work focuses on inequalities and social determinants of health, particularly the impact of work and social security and especially in relation to disabled people. This includes understanding health impact, economic feasibility, public acceptability and the development of narratives capable of persuading opponents of evidence-based policy. A core project within this has been his examination of the public health case for Basic Income. His work has often depended on deploying innovative research and communication methods to include and amplify the voices of underrepresented groups. This has been supported by more than £2.4m in research funding.

Previously a research leader in the third sector, his work across academia, public and third sectors has achieved impact by creating sector-wide standards, shaping organisational approaches and influencing local, regional and national government policy. His work on social security has led to his being invited to Government roundtables to provide evidence on disability benefits policy.

His work has been covered national and international outlets, including the Guardian, Independent, Times, Telegraph, Spectator, FT, BBC, Sky News, Channel 4 News, ITV News, Channel 5 News, CNBC and TIME. He provided 2024 UK General Election analysis for BBC Radio Newcastle and Tees both on the night and the following day.

Email Elliott

Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

Elliott's primary research interest is the social determinants of health, and the public policy means of addressing them. Much of his work has focused on work and welfare, particularly Basic Income, and especially in relation to disabled people. Specifically, his work examines the following areas:

Health impact
Economic feasibility
Public acceptability
Narratives to ‘sell’ the policy
Additional needs, including those of disabled people

He also has broader expertise on inclusion, disability and inclusive physical activity.

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Does money only matter in low-to-middle income countries? Public health policymakers’ assessments of material social determinants in different development contexts, Johnson, E., Cooper, C., Fearnley, H., Hart, C., Thew, A., Johnson, S., Croft, E., Chrisp, J., Mathur, V., Howard, N., Stark, G., Reed, H., Nettle, D., Johnson, M. 13 Feb 2026, In: Basic Income Studies
Nice idea that people would vote for: why Basic Income is more popular than policymakers assume, Johnson, M., Nettle, D., Johnson, E. 8 Jan 2026, The Politics of Basic Income in the Public and Private Sector, New York, United States, Palgrave Macmillan
Reducing avoidable deaths and energy poverty: Conjoint experimental survey evidence on United Kingdom voters’ priorities for energy policy, Thew, A., Stark, G., Reed, H., Johnson, M., Johnson, E. 1 Feb 2026, In: Energy Research and Social Science
What drives support for largescale housing reform? Mixed-methods survey data from the UK indicates importance of socioeconomic status over demographic characteristics, Cooper, C., Stark, G., Brandon, T., Reed, H., Johnson, M., Johnson, E. 6 Feb 2026, In: International Journal of Housing Policy
Anxiety, insecurity and redistribution in the UK ‘red wall’: have policy preferences changed since the COVID-19 pandemic?, Stark, G., Johnson, E., Ahmed, Z., Kamalakannan, S., Reed, H., Flinders, M., Nettle, D., Johnson, M., Degerman, D. 1 May 2025, In: International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society
Basic Income for Greater Manchester: Plans for a feasible, affordable and popular pilot, Hawdale, A., Strappazzon, L., Douglas, J., Johnson, E., Duffy, S., Mermelstein, D., Stark, G., Reed, H., Nettle, D., Johnson, M. 10 Feb 2025
Basic Income for Net Zero: Trade Union Perspectives, Strappazzon, L., Hawdale, A., Williams, J., Reed, H., Thew, A., Johnson, E., Johnson, M. 22 Dec 2025
Basic Income: The Policy That Changes Everything, Johnson, M., Pickett, K., Nettle, D., Reed, H., Johnson, E., Robson, I. 27 May 2025
Budget Blues: The Sequal, Thew, A., Reed, H., Johnson, M., Johnson, E. 3 Dec 2025
Climate change mitigation and workers’ interests: why framing a Green New Deal as redistributive and security-enhancing is key to popularity, Ardron, K., Stark, G., Meller, S., Reed, H., Johnson, M., Johnson, E. 7 Apr 2025, In: F1000Research

Professional Activity

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Participating in a conference, workshop, ...: Does Universal Basic Income Improve Health?Knowledge Gaps and the Design of a Randomised Controlled Trial: Experts’ sessions on gaps and design 2025
Invited talk: Popularity, feasibility and affordability, and how these relate to the assessment of evidence 2025
Other: Grant reviewer: Netherlands Organisation of Health, Research and Development (ZonMw) 2025
Participating in a conference, workshop, ...: London Assembly Economy, Culture and Skills Committee expert panel evidence-gathering session on Universal Basic Income (UBI) in London 2025
Other: Expert comment: German experiment gave people a basic monthly income - the effect on their work ethic was surprising 2025
Participating in a conference, workshop, ...: Health and disability benefits reform roundtable hosted by Minister of State for Social Security and Disability 2025
Publication Peer-review: International Journal of Social Determinants of Health and Health Services (Journal) 2025
Publication Peer-review: PLoS One (Journal) 2025
Publication Peer-review: Psychology, Health and Medicine (Journal) 2025
Editorial work: Routledge Open Research (Journal) 2025

PGR Supervision

David Nichol Empowering Educators for the Future: Collaboration and co-construction to promote preparedness, readiness and professional learning Start Date: 01/09/2025 End Date: 21/12/2025