Professor John Maltby

I am a Professor of Differential Psychology at the University of Leicester in the School of Healthcare. I am a member of the TIMMS research group.  My work focuses on individual differences, wellbeing and resilience, with a particular emphasis on psychometrics and the development and validation of psychological measures. I also apply this work to health and developmental contexts, including child and adolescent wellbeing, and translational projects that support decision making and better outcomes in practice.

My GoogleScholar Site

Since 2021 my healthcare research has focused on psychological measurement, resilience, and decision support across the life course. I contribute to NIHR programmes developing tools for shared decision making, including cascade screening for thoracic aortic disease and choices in coronary artery disease. In maternity care I work within the CHAPTER programme, producing reviews and cohort evidence on complications after childbirth related perineal trauma, and on wound healing assessment tools. I also develop and validate measures, including the Well Being in Dementia Inventory, and primary care screening for suspected dementia in younger adults. This applied work sits alongside research linking psychological distress to socioeconomic disadvantage, and work on resilience systems, and on how school environments shape wellbeing and achievement.

Recent Publications (A full list is provided via GoogleScholar)

Bridger, E. K., Maltby, J., Fried, E. I., Ebrahimi, O. V., & Bjørndal, L. D. (in press). Linking psychological distress and multilevel socioeconomic disadvantage: A representative population based study of 15,851 UK adults. American Psychologist.

Edgerton, E., McKechnie, J., & Maltby, J. (2026). Developing a psychological understanding of students’ perceptions of their school environment and the relationship with academic achievement. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 109, Article 102862. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2025.102862

Abbasciano, R. G., Miksza, J., Barwell, J., Shannon, N., Clift, P., Proietti, R., Ahearn, U., Saadia, H., McManus, G., Hewitt, K., Qureshi, N., Ghosh, L., Kaur, R., Aujla, H., Page, S., Lewis, M., Sayers, R., Cotton, A., Bown, M., Skinner, L., Maltby, J., Krasopoulos, G., Cameron, D., Oo, A., Elefteriades, J. A., Owens, G., & Murphy, G. (in press). Patient and family perspectives on cascade screening for thoracic aortic disease: A mixed methods evaluation. European Journal of Human Genetics.

Turel, Z. B., Perry, A., Balicki, A., Mukaetova Ladinska, E., Vargas Triguero, E., Lesniak, A., & Maltby, J. (Corresponding Author) (2025). Measuring meaning based well being in individuals with dementia: The creation and validation of the Well Being in Dementia Inventory. Age and Ageing, 54(4), afaf092. https://doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afaf092

Maltby, J. (2024). Networking Trait Resilience: Unifying fragmented trait resilience systems from an ecological systems theory perspective. Journal of Personality. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12925

Recent Large Grants

Zeitlin, J., & Consortium. (2025-2030). (CI: Leicester) IMPROVE PRETERM: IMPROVing Lifelong Health and Development for Children and Adults Born Very Preterm, Observational Studies to Enhance Randomised Trials for Comparative Effectiveness Research. Horizon Europe. (€7.8 million). (£668,728 to Leicester)

Murphy, G., Owens, G., Abbasciano, R. G., Barwell, Brookes, C., Clift, P., Cotton, A., Lewis, M., Maltby, J. et al. [CI] (2024-2029). Mixed methods co design and evaluation of a Decision Support Tool to enable shared decision making for people who are considering cascade screening for Thoracic Aortic Disease: The DECIDE TAD Programme. NIHR: Programme Grants for Applied Research. £2,953,078.

Baltzer, H., Anjum, A., Maltby, J., Jones, C., Zhou, H., Kaduk, J., Tansey, K., Liu, L., Touri, M., et al. [CI, Workpackage Lead]. (2023-2025). Self learning Digital Twins for Sustainable Land Management. EPSRC. £2.4 million

Morris, R. K., Hodgetts Morton, V., Webb, S., Maltby, J., (CI Workpackage lead) et al. (2022-2026). Optimising the care of women following childbirth related perineal trauma. NIHR Programme Grants for Applied Research. £1.2 million

I teach on a range of psychology courses available at the University of Leicester. My main teaching is around individual differences and I teach on 2nd and 3rd year modules on the topics of intelligence and applied aspects of individual differences.

I am also an author of the textbook Personality, Individual Differences, and Intelligence (published by Pearson Education).

British Psychological Society

Higher Education Academy

British Society for the Psychology of Individual Differences (Founding Society Officer).

National Institute for Health Research; East Midlands

European Huntington’s Disease Network 

University of Ulster 1995 D/Phil (PhD) in Psychology

University of Ulster 1991 BSc in Social Psychology (BPS accredited)

Sheffield Hallam University 1997 PGCE Education

British Psychological Society 2014 Occupational Ability and Personality (Level A and B)