Retirement of Professor James Russell

The Department of Psychology bade a fond farewell to Professor of Cognitive Development, James Russell, who retired at the start of this academic year after almost three decades in the Department.

Professor Russell joined the Department of Experimental Psychology in October 1987, having moved from the University of Liverpool, where he had spent the previous twelve years. Prior to that time he had been a lecturer at Glasgow University. Over the course of his career, Professor Russell supervised twenty PhD students, many of whom are now professors. His past students include Professor Claire Hughes (now Professor of Developmental Psychology in the Department), Professor Teresa McCormack (Queen's University, Belfast), Professor Christopher Jarrold (University of Bristol), Professor Charles Fernyhough (University of Durham), and Professor Elizabeth Meins (University of York).

Professor Russell's research interests are wide ranging, encompassing cognitive development from infancy to middle childhood, philosophical psychology, and language acquisition. As Director of the Cambridge Developing Cognition Lab, Professor Russell has led projects on episodic memory and episodic foresight in young children.

In addition to publishing widely in a broad range of journals, including Developmental Psychology, Developmental Science, Cognition, Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, Autism, and Memory, Professor Russell has also published two monographs:

Russell, J. (1996) Agency: Its role in mental development. Hove: Erlbaum.

Russell, J. (2004) What is language development? Rationalist, empiricist, and pragmatist approaches to the acquisition of syntax. Oxford : Oxford University Press.

In parallel to his academic career, Professor Russell has developed as a poet and novelist over recent years. His poetry collections include The Sixty-Four Seasons (Oleander, 2004), Properly Nuanced (Knives Forks and Spoons Press, 2012), Arnos Grove (Waterloo Press, 2012), Neurotrash (Like This Press, 2013), and A True-Dream Run (Knives, Forks & Spoons Press, 2014). His novel, Craigie's Clevedon Poems, was published 2013 by the Knives Forks and Spoons Press.

Over the course of the past four years, Professor Russell has chaired the Department of Psychology Library Committee. He has been an insightful and dynamic Chair over this period.

A very successful research workshop, which celebrated Professor Russell's contributions to the field of developmental psychology, was held at St John's College, Cambridge, earlier this year. The workshop was organised by Professor Usha Goswami, who is a long-time colleague and good friend of Professor Russell. The programme, which can be seen below, included a number of Professor Russell's past students.

Professor Russell will continue to work on a future thinking study, based in the Department, until January 2016.