John Drury (psychologist)

Drury, as well as his direct University of Sussex colleague Stephen Reicher, are both participants in the Sage subcommittee advising on behavioural science during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The core of Drury's research is on the processes of crowd conflict and psychological change in relation to direct action events.

More recently, Drury’s research has examined how participants may feel empowered through crowd experiences, and how such positive emotions might affect other areas of their lives.

A large-scale interview study led by Drury found that the act of protesting itself can be good for you,[3] due to the feelings of encouragement and confidence emerging from experiences of collective action.

The main factors contributing to the sense of empowerment included the realisation of the collective identity and shared expectations of mutual support.