Professor Patrick Leman, Executive Dean of the College of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences

Patrick Leman is Executive Dean of the College of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences and a Professor of Psychology.

Patrick is a developmental social psychologist whose research straddles the intersection of social and cognitive development. His research explores how social relationships, identity, and context influence the way children and adolescents acquire knowledge and understand themselves. Patrick’s work has explained how children co-construct knowledge through dialogue with peers, touching on how social categories like gender and race impact social relationships, moral judgment and educational attainment. Recent studies have examined issues of self-objectification, particularly its impact on social approval motivation and self-presentation, and interactions with AI in sub-clinical contexts.

He was Editor of the British Journal of Developmental Psychology (2013-2019) and Chair of the British Psychological Society’s Editorial Advisory Group (2016-2020) overseeing it’s twelve journals and book outputs. He is author of the textbook, Developmental Psychology, with Andy Bremner.

Qualifications

BA (Hons), MA Oxford University (St Edmund Hall)

PhD University of Cambridge (Corpus Christi College)

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Fellow of the British Psychological Society

Responsibility

As Executive Dean, Patrick is a member of the University’s Executive Board and is responsible for academic leadership in research and education across five departments in the College - Biomedical Sciences, Health Sciences, Medicine, Psychology, and Sports Health & Exercise Sciences - and financial planning and growth, and developing external partnerships across London in health, medicine and life sciences and internationally.

Patrick has previously held positions as interim Executive Dean of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Buckingham, Pro Vice-Chancellor at the University of Waikato (New Zealand), Dean of Education and Executive Dean at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London. He was also formerly Head of Department and Associate Dean Science at Royal Holloway University of London and held lecturer positions at Goldsmiths College London and University of Cambridge