Dr Gerard Duveen (1951 – 2008)

His work on cultural knowledge – social representations – made him one of the foremost experts in the field.

Following a joint Philosophy and Psychology degree at Surrey (1974), Gerard did his Masters in Rudolf Schaffer’s Department of Psychology at Strathclyde University, before doing his PhD at Sussex University.

His thesis title, “From social cognition to cognition of social life: An essay in decentration” focused on the topic that remained central throughout his career. After some short-term teaching and research posts, Gerard returned to Sussex as a Research Fellow associated with Barbara Lloyd, and their very successful and productive research collaboration produced a string of papers as well as two influential books, Gender Identities and Education (1992) and the edited volume, Social Representation and Development of Knowledge (1998).

In 1989 Gerard was appointed to a lectureship in the Department of Education in Cambridge and four years later the post was transferred to the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, as  a University Reader in Genetic Social Psychology. where he remained until his death.
 

In Cambridge, Gerard continued to work on the development of social representation, particularly focusing on the relationship between representation and identities. In many ways, Gerard’s thinking and teaching were much more part of the continental tradition than of mainstream Anglo-American psychology. His twin intellectual father figures were Jean Piaget and Serge Moscovici.
 

Following the diagnosis of an untreatable cancer, Gerard Duveen held a party in Corpus earlier this year. An open invitation was circulated to friends, family and academic colleagues who came from far and wide to celebrate Gerard and to make their farewells.