Professor Helen Dodd

Helen Dodd is a Professor of Child Psychology at Exeter Medical School. Within the medical school she sits in the Department of Public Health and Sports Science where she is Deputy Head of Department.

Helen is an expert in children's play and child mental health. Helen has a particular interest in the development of childhood anxiety disorders and the role of play in the prevention of mental health problems in childhood. Her research has been funded by the ESRC, Royal Society, British Academy, Kavli Foundation and the Australian Research Council. She has received awards for her research from the Anxiety Disorders Association of America (ADAA) and the British Psychological Society (BPS). In 2021 Helen was awarded the Margaret Donaldson Award from the BPS for her outstanding contribution to developmental psychology. Most recently her public health research was recognised by the Faculty of Public Health who elected her to fellowship of the Faculty, through distinction.

Helen held an ESRC Future Research Leaders grant between 2014 and 2019 and currently holds a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship, which funds a program of work examining the relationship between children's adventurous play and mental health. Helen regularly writes about children’s play and contributes to public discussions about the role of play in supporting children’s mental health. During the pandemic Helen played a leading role in the @playfirstUK group, who campaigned for children's play to be prioritised and for a #SummerOfPlay. Helen was elected to the board of Play England in 2022.

Alongside her work on adventurous play, Helen collaborates on a number of other projects which focus on better understanding pathways to anxiety in young children and how to support children and families to prevent mental health problems. She has expertise in longitudinal data analysis, eyetracking, observational research, experimental design and developmental psychology more broadly