LEAP Fellow

Lea Moersdorf

University of Zurich

Lea Moersdorf is a postdoctoral researcher in developmental psychology at the University of Zurich and alumna of the International Max Planck Research School on the Life Course (LIFE). 

Lea is passionate about understanding and improving child learning and development, especially in the social-cognitive domain, from infancy through adolescence. Her research investigates how children understand others’ actions and learn from them (e.g., through imitation) and how contextual information might help or hinder child learning. In her current work, Lea focuses on improving kindergarten children’s learning, but she has also conducted research across the entire lifespan. For instance, during her PhD she investigated in two large cross-sectional studies how people between 3 and 87 years represent goals. 

Before completing her PhD in developmental psychology in 2020 at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, she obtained her M.Sc. degree in psychology at Heidelberg University, Germany, and a B.Sc. at Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany. 

Lea’s overarching goal is to help foster the development and learning of all children by combining basic developmental research with insights from practice.