Claire Maxwell (sociologist)

Maxwell was born, and spent her childhood, in Luxembourg. She holds German and Australian citizenship, and is fluent in English, German, French and Danish. She attended the European School in Luxembourg, graduating from its EB programme in 1993.

Maxwell gained a BA in PPE from The Queen's College, University of Oxford in 1996. She remained at Oxford (Green Templeton College and Department of Social Policy and Intervention) to study for a MSc in Applied Social Studies and a postgraduate Diploma in Social Work (PGDipSW), which qualified her to practise as a social worker in the UK in 1999.

Maxwell subsequently studied for a PhD at Royal Holloway College with a thesis entitled "Gender versus ‘vulnerability’: how they determine young people's sexual and relationship experiences", awarded in 2005. She was supervised by Betsy Stanko.

Maxwell combined her part-time PhD research with employment by Oxfordshire County Council, initially as a social worker, and later as a public health specialist and teenage pregnancy co-ordinator for the county, developing and implementing a strategy to reduce the incidence of teenage pregnancy across Oxfordshire.

After her PhD award, Maxwell was employed by the Institute of Education from 2006, progressing from researcher, to lecturer, and was appointed Professor in 2018. She accepted a chair in Sociology at the University of Copenhagen and took up the post in September 2018.[3]

Her broad research interests are concerned with the sociology of education and gender and education. Specific current interests include the practices of dominant social classes, globally mobile professionals, and elite education. She has been awarded research funding by the ESRC[4] in the UK.

Her Google Scholar H index is 21.[5]

Maxwell is currently co-editor of the journal International Studies in Sociology of Education.[6] Her work has appeared in a number of high impact journals, including the British Journal of Sociology of Education [7]

Maxwell was interviewed on BBC Radio 4's Thinking Allowed[8] in 2016.

She regularly uses her Twitter account to discuss her research and highlight new publications.[9] She has appeared on the FreshEd podcast[10] and has also featured on YouTube talking about her research.[11]

Maxwell has extensive experience of school governance and practical educational policy implementation, at both primary and secondary levels. She serves on the Board of Rygaards International School[12] in Copenhagen, and was formerly Chair of Governors at West Oxford Community Primary School in the UK.

Maxwell lives in Gentofte and is married, with two children.[13] She is a committed CrossFit athlete.[14]

The retired figure skater, Olympian and fitness influencer Fleur Maxwell[15][16] is her youngest sister.