Developmental Psychology

Learn more about our goals to understand how we change and develop over time through excellence in teaching, research and scholarship.

Our work spans typical and atypical emotional, social, cognitive and behavioural development across the lifespan.

We use diverse methodologies, including quantitative behavioural genetics, analysis of cohort studies, naturalistic and lab-based designs, randomised trials and qualitative methods to study infant and child cognition, family and peer relationships, the development of mental health, neurodiversity and aging. Our work has a core objective of translating research to education, clinical, and public contexts through our scholarship, research-led teaching and strong links with policymakers and practitioners in mental health and social care services and education.

Find out about our faculty's expertise

Kate Lester (Group Leader)

Anxiety, Parenting, School mental health, School attendance

Sophie Anns

Memory, Learning and Language, Autism

Robin Banerjee

Children's Peer Relations, Social Cognition, Kindness

Helen Drew

Developmental Psychology, Child and Adolescent Wellbeing, Children in Care

Andy Field

Emotional Development, Statistical Methodology, Maths & Statistics Education

Elian Fink

Social cognition, Children's peer relationships, School readiness

Anna Franklin

Colour, Perception, Vision

Wendy Garnham

Scholarship, Active Learning, Transition

Darya Gaysina

Mental Health, Genetics, Ageing

Jessica Horst

Child Development, Language Acquisition, Word Learning

Emma Howarth

Children and young people, Violence and Abuse, Intervention

Alison Pike

Family Psychology, Parenting, Siblings

Alice Skelton

Visual development, colour

Dave Smalley

Developmental and Educational Psychology, Collaborative Learning

Susan Sullivan

Emotion Processing, Visual Attention, Reading Development, Educational Feedback

Ellen Thompson

Developmental Psychopathology, Inequalities in Mental Health, Longitudinal Data Analysis

Sophie Zadeh

Family Psychology, Family Diversity, Children and Young People