Matt's research is focused on:

• the psychological and social dimensions of climate and ecological crisis (e.g. eco-anxiety) 
• the psychological, emotional and social implications of living in the Anthropocene
• the evaluation of nature-based interventions for mental health
• the exploration of alternative approaches to nature-based interventions - informed by multispecies and more-than-human methods, community and critical psychology and ecopsychology
• the study of human-animal relations - especially in ways that address ethical issues, challenge anthropocentric practices and promote care and compassion

Matt is experienced in working with a range of conventional qualitative methods such as interviews and focus groups, alongside innovative methods such as arts-based research, creative, visual and comics-based research.  

He often works collaboratively - with community groups, charities, arts-based practitioners and other academics. 

His teaching focus overlaps with his research interests, and incorporates ecopsychology, ecotherapy, critical environmental psychology and mental health.

From October 2022 - October 2024 he was awarded an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Research, Development and Engagement Fellowship, titled 'Pavlov and the kingdom of dogs: Storying experimental animal histories through arts-based research'. The Fellowship involved the collaborative development of creative, arts-based and visual methods to challenge conventional perceptions of animal experimentation, the nature of scientific work, and the history of Psychology.

Matt supervises PhD students addressing a range of topics including human-animal relations, more-than-human and multispecies methods, Anthropocene studies, the posthumanities, psychology and the climate crisis, climate activism, mental health and distress, social and cultural identity.

He is especially interested in supervising students adopting qualitative and creative methods. Interdisciplinary projects are especially welcome. 

Matt's specialist teaching areas are the psychology of human-animal relations, psychology and the Anthropocene, ecopsychology, environmental psychology, climate psychology, social psychology, mental health and distress.

Matt is the author of the books Anthropocene Psychology: Being Human in a More-Than-Human World (2020), Ecological Crisis, Sustainability & the Psychosocial Subject: Beyond Behaviour Change (2016) and Self & Social Change (2008). He has also written numerous academic articles, book chapters commentary pieces and reports, e.g.:

Adams, M. (2024). Arts-based research, animal studies and Pavlov’s dogs: making the familiar strange in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 1-33.

Adams, M. (2021). Critical psychologies and climate change. Current Opinion in Psychology, 42, 13-18.

Adams, M. (2020). The kingdom of dogs: Understanding Pavlov’s experiments as human–animal relationships. Theory & Psychology, 30(1), 121-141.

Adams, M. (2018). Towards a critical psychology of human–animal relations. Social and personality psychology compass, 12(4), e12375.

Adams, M. (2014). Approaching nature, ‘sustainability’ and ecological crises from a critical social psychological perspective. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 8(6), 251-262.

For a complete list of publications see full research profile.