Amanda Palmer read Human Sciences as a mature student at Oxford having come from a background in the Civil Service and Local Government. Choosing to specialise in the Social Sciences within the Human Sciences degree programme, she went on to read for a Doctorate in the Sociology of Education at Warwick University.
Thereafter she held a senior lectureship at Oxford Brooke’s University and acted as both a training and research consultant for the Cabinet Office and other central government departments.
She has maintained strong links with the Human Sciences degree ever since graduating and has undertaken many teaching, administrative and examining roles in support of the degree over the last thirty years.
She is currently the Lecturer in Sociology at St Catherine’s College, Oxford as well as the Director of Studies for Human Sciences at Harris Manchester College. In addition she is Vice-Chair of the Institute of Human Sciences and Chair of Examiners for this degree.
Teaching
Dr Palmer is heavily involved in providing tutorial teaching for all three sociology papers within the Human Sciences degree. These tutorials are usually conducted one to one or in pairs and provide ample opportunity for discussion and debate.
She also conducts separate lecture series in sociology throughout the year for diploma students and visiting students at the University’s Department for Continuing Education and conducts a further lecture series on Gender and Social Change for Stanford University in Oxford. Through this teaching she is regularly in close contact with students from overseas and mature students.
Research Interests
Dr Palmer’s field is Sociology including Sociological Theory, Sociology of Education, Sociology of the Family, Gender Theory and Sociology of Postindustrial Societies.Dr Palmer is now focussed entirely on teaching within, and supporting, the Human Sciences degree programme but research interests lie primarily in aspects of gender, the family and the workplace.
