Professor Paul Ramchandani has been appointed the world’s first LEGO Professor of Play by the University of Cambridge.

The professorship is based at the Centre for Research on Play in Education, Development and Learning (PEDAL), which was set up in 2015 with a £4 million grant from the LEGO Foundation.

Professor Ramchandani is currently Professor of Child and Adolescent Mental Health at Imperial College, London, and has spent the last 15 years researching child development. He also works as a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist at the Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust. His research is focused on child development, and especially on the prevention of emotional and behavioural problems in very young children.

As head of the centre, Professor Ramchandani will lead PEDAL’s research into the importance of play in education. The centre examines the underlying brain processes involved in play, and uses this understanding to develop play-based education methods, which are shared with national and international policy makers.

Professor Geoff Hayward, Head of the Faculty of Education, said: “Professor Ramchandani has an outstanding research record of international stature. He has the vision, leadership, experience and enthusiasm that PEDAL needs, and we are delighted that he is joining us. This is an exciting area of research which we feel will throw new light on the importance of play in early education.”

Professor Ramchandani, who will take up the post next January, said he was “delighted” to have been awarded the professorship. “Everyone has an opinion about what role play should have in early education and there is some wonderful research, but there are also big gaps in our knowledge. We need the best evidence possible in order to inform the vital decisions that are made about children’s education and development in order to inform the vital decisions that are made about children’s education and development and I look forward to taking that work forward together with colleagues at Cambridge.”