Johnny Fontaine

Professor Johnny Fontaine is a prominent researcher at Ghent University's Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, specializing in emotion theory, cross-cultural psychology, and digital mental health interventions. His extensive publication record spans over two decades with continued active research through 2025.

Fontaine's research focuses on the componential structure of emotions, emotional competence, and cross-cultural differences in emotional experience and expression. He has made significant contributions to the GRID ( Geneva Emotion Research Grid) instrument for assessing emotion meaning structures across cultures. His recent work has expanded into digital mental health applications, particularly examining emotional competence interventions through mobile platforms and their impact on depression prevention among young adults. He also investigates the psychological aspects of cybersecurity, exploring emotional reactions to cyber-physical threats in smart home environments.

His publication trends reveal an evolution from foundational work on emotion components and cultural differences toward applied research in digital mental health and cybersecurity contexts. The ECoWeB project represents a major recent initiative testing emotional competence apps against traditional cognitive behavioral approaches for depression prevention. His cybersecurity research uniquely bridges psychological science with information security concerns, examining how people perceive and react emotionally to IoT security breaches.

Fontaine has supervised multiple PhD students to completion, including Eva Sekwena (2024), Veerle Huyghe (2022), Elke Veirman (2015), and Hans Groenvynck (2010). His frequent collaborators include Edward R. Watkins, Alain Van Hiel, Arne Roets, and Sanja Budimir, reflecting interdisciplinary connections across clinical, social, and cybersecurity domains.

His work appears in leading journals including Lancet Digital Health, Emotion, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, and Computers & Security, demonstrating the breadth of his research impact across psychology and emerging technology domains.