Patrick Leman's research themes explore the intersection of epistemic and social issues in developmental and social psychology, often from an experimental perspective.[2] His early work on peer conversation with Gerard Duveen[3] developed new methods for understanding children's co-construction of knowledge that has subsequently become a core area of research in European developmental psychology.[4]
He has also examined the role of gender in children's learning and, more recently, focused on issues of ethnicity and race in classroom contexts.[5] Leman's work fuses social, developmental, cognitive and cultural psychology.[6] More recent applied research has developed these theoretical ideas in classroom contexts to promote positive youth development including setting up, with colleagues, the White Water Writers charity.[7]
Other work
Together with colleagues Drs Joe Reddington and Yvonne Skipper, Leman is director of White Water Writers, a not-for-profit organisation that allows young people to write an original novel, collaboratively, in a week. The project has received funding from the Ernest Cook Trust and SHINE Foundation. He has also worked with the Laureus Foundation to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of sport-related interventions projects across the globe. He is a member of the advisory board of the Dame Alice Owen Foundation and an active member of the British Psychological Society and many other academic bodies.[citation needed]
