Prof. Paul Ramchandani is LEGO Professor of Play in Education, Development and Learning at Cambridge University, UK. He is Director of the PEDAL Research Centre, where he leads a research team investigating the role of play in children’s early development. He also works as a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist in the UK National Health Service.

He trained as a doctor in Southampton before training as a child and adolescent psychiatrist.  He took a degree in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine before studying for a doctorate (DPhil) at Oxford University. Prior to taking up his appointment in Cambridge in January 2018, Paul was Professor of Child and Adolescent Mental Health at Imperial College London.

Paul’s research is focussed on early child development and he has a particular interest in child and parental play and also the prevention of emotional and behavioural difficulties. This includes the development and testing of psychological interventions and detailed observational studies of parents and young children. The key driver of all this research is the direct improvement of the lives of babies, children and their families. This research takes place in collaboration with local authority staff, teachers, healthcare workers and others and is supported by grant funding from the LEGO Foundation, the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR), the Nuffield Foundation and NESTA. Paul was involved in formative CHIME work in the Gambia

Paul is fortunate to work with a great interdisciplinary group of colleagues including teachers, psychologists and health professionals. Details of the current work of the team, and recent publications can be found at the PEDAL website.