Jessica Leech’s research interests, contemporary and historical, centre around the topic of modality — possibility and necessity. She is interested in questions concerning the nature of essence and its relationship to necessity, the relationships between different kinds of necessity, and the role that modal thinking and modal concepts play in our mental lives. She is interested in exploring what Kant had to say about modality, and issues arising from that. She is also interested in the development of modal logic and modal metaphysics in the early-to-mid twentieth century, and especially the contribution made by women to this endeavour.