The University of Cambridge announced on Friday it has appointed child mental health expert Paul Ramchandani as its first Lego “Professor of play.”
Ramchandani will head the Centre for Research on Play in Education, Development and Learning (PEDAL) that was established in 2015 by the
Lego Foundation with a 4-million-pound (5.15-million-dollar) grant, the university announced in a press release.
“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,” Ramchandani said.
The centre is currently studying aspects of children’s playfulness including the underlying brain processes involved in play and how playfulness can be measured.
“There is a great need for establishing play as a central arena for learning and development in the minds and actions of those influencing children’s lives,” said Bo Stjerne Thomsen, head of research at the Lego Foundation.
When the job was advertised in January, applicants for the coveted 84,000-pound-a-year position included a 10-year-old schoolboy, web
portal Cambridge News reported.
