Neil Johnson

Neil Johnson is a Professor of Physics at George Washington University, leading a Complexity and Data Science initiative. His research focuses on complex systems, online networks, and quantum information processing, with applications to social media dynamics, conflict analysis, and financial markets. He holds a BA/MA from St. John's College, Cambridge, and a PhD from Harvard University as a Kennedy Scholar. He has been a Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge, a Professor at the University of Oxford (1992–2007), and later at the University of Miami before joining GW in 2018.

Johnson is an APS Fellow and recipient of the 2018 Burton Award. His work spans theoretical physics, computational social science, and interdisciplinary research through initiatives like CABDyN (Complexity Science) and the Oxford Centre for Financial Complexity (OCCF). He has authored over 300 papers, supervised 25+ PhD students, and written books such as Financial Market Complexity and Simply Complexity. His current lab, the Dynamics Online Networks Lab, explores collective behavior in digital ecosystems, including AI-driven misinformation and hate networks.

Key research areas include modeling conflict dynamics, predicting social media trends, and analyzing extremisim's online ecology. His recent work addresses AI governance, technosocial systems, and the interplay between online and offline human behavior.