Clare is a Professor in the psychology department at Emmanuel College, Boston, where she leads the Lifespan Lab (find out more about the lab by clicking here). Clare is also a staff scientist at Boston Children’s Hospital, and an Academic Visitor at Royal Holloway University of London (2025-2027).
Check out the research page on this website for Clare’s current research projects and interests!
Clare was born in Gloucestershire, UK, to Ann and Ramnik Mehta in a year that makes her an “elder millennial”. She grew up in Swindon, attending Bradon Forest Secondary School and Swindon College, and ice skating and raving on the weekends (OK…and some weeknights). Clare found her way to Avon, Massachusetts in the USA via a now defunct exchange program called “Youth for Understanding”. This experience helped her realize that she kind of liked learning and that maybe hairdressing, with it’s required precision, was actually not the career for her after all.
Clare went on to earn a Bachelors Degree in Psychology from Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts, followed by a Masters of Research in Education from the University of Bath in the UK. And then, because she couldn’t get enough, she earned a Masters of Science and a PhD in Lifespan Developmental Psychology from West Virginia University in the USA. She’s still sh*t at cutting hair, and her husband, mum, and brother in law are her dissatisfied clients.
Clare currently lives in Richmond, London, in the UK with her husband and daughter. She enjoys meeting new people, drinking white wine spritzers, and eating bowls of chips (french fries). She tolerates running, and despite not being able to swim and having weak arms, she has recently started kayaking on the Thames. The geese are terrified.
You can email Clare at mehtac@emmanuel.edu
Clare M. Mehta, PhD 