Pam Maras is a social and educational psychologist, whose research is in social and cognitive aspects of young peoples' motivation, self-concept and personal and social identity in relation to school achievement and social and anti-social behaviour.

In 1994 Maras was awarded the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues of The American Psychological Association (SPSSI) Social Issues Dissertation Annual Prize for outstanding academic achievement, for her PhD in group processes and intergroup relations and has published extensively and has given invited and refereed talks at international conferences, including in Australia, China, Mainland Europe, South Africa and the United States. She has attracted considerable research income and has collaborated with colleagues from the Universities of Bath, Birmingham, Cambridge, Exeter, Kent, Leicester, London and Oxford in the UK; Lille and Amiens in mainland Europe; Alabama, Harvard, Kentucky, Miami, and Texas in North America and Sydney and Darwin in Australia. Professor Maras has worked with policy makers and is often invited to comment to media on her research areas appearing on television and radio in news and feature programmes relating to psychology. This reflects her strong commitment to public engagement and the effective dissemination and application of findings from psychological research to applied contexts.

Pam Maras is past President of the British Psychological Society and Head of the Department of Psychology and Counselling at the University of Greenwich, London, UK.