In 2024 she was appointed Professor of Ecosystems and Biodiversity Research at University College London.
She was awarded her PhD in 2008 at Queen Mary University of London having looked at "Social information use in foraging bumblebees".
[1] Leadbeater was a research fellow at the Institute of Zoology and then a lecturer at Royal Holloway, University of London where in 2019 she was appointed Professor of Ecology and Evolution.
She has looked at how bumblebees can learn where to find nectar, by watching other bees within an arena choose a particular flower colour that bears nectar, and then choosing the same colour flower when they enter the arena.
[4] Her work has shown that chemical insecticides can affect bee learning and memory, such as remembering which flowers near a colony have nectar or have been emptied.