John Cook is a Senior Research Fellow with the Melbourne Centre for Behaviour Change at the University of Melbourne. He researches how to use critical thinking to counter misinformation. He created the Cranky Uncle game, combining critical thinking, cartoons, and gamification to build resilience against misinformation. He has worked with organizations such as Facebook, NASA, and UNICEF to develop evidence-based responses to misinformation.
Contact Information
skepsci@gmail.com
Website
Google Scholar
John Cook
Senior Research Fellow, Melbourne Centre for Behaviour Change
Selected Publications
Cook, J., Nuccitelli, D., Green, S.A., Richardson, M., Winkler, B., Painting, R., Way, R., Jacobs, P., & Skuce, A. (2013). Quantifying the consensus on anthropogenic global warming in the scientific literature. Environmental Research Letters, 8(2), 024024+.
Cook, J., Lewandowsky, S., & Ecker, U. (2017). Neutralizing misinformation through inoculation: Exposing misleading argumentation techniques reduces their influence. PLOS ONE, 12(5): e0175799.
Cook, J. (2020). Cranky Uncle vs. Climate Change: How to Understand and Respond to Climate Science Deniers. New York, NY: Citadel Press.
In the Media
https://grist.org/language/trump-administration-climate-data-disappear-national-climate-assessment/
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jun/12/monash-staff-say-woodside-backed-climate-conference-highlights-concerns-about-energy-giant-partnership
The Double-Edged Sword of AI and the Battle Against Climate Change Misinformation
https://theecologist.org/2025/may/19/climate-denial-path-disaster
https://utopiaisnow.com.au/episode/misinformation-101-climate-change-denial-and-how-to-fight-back-dr-john-cook-phd
https://www.latimes.com/environment/newsletter/2025-01-09/column-taylor-sheridans-landman-needs-less-fossil-fuel-propaganda-boiling-point
Education
B.Sc. First Class Honours, Physics, University of Queensland, Australia
Doctorate of Philosophy
School of Psychology, University of Western Australia, Australia
Dissertations Supervised
Deconstructing Ad Hominem Attacks on Climate Scientists to Prepare against Contrarian Misinformation Campaigns (Sergei Samoilenko)