Place of birth: Keighley, Yorkshire, England

Parentage: daughter of Curt L. David and Esther L. David (née Lea)

Family: married Professor Jeffrey G. Duckett, Professor of Botany, Queen Mary University of London; children: J. Toby Reiner, doctoral student at University of California, Berkeley, 2. Charlotte A. Reiner, modern languages leader and schoolteacher, London

Education: BA (Hons), Sociology, University of Leeds 1966; PhD, University of London 1975

Career: Miriam David is Professor of the Sociology of Education and Associate Director (Higher Education) of the Economic and Social Research Council’s (ESRC) Teaching & Learning Research Programme at the Institute of Education, University of London. In this capacity she is responsible for research projects on widening participation to and learning within higher education and issues around social diversity and difference across all levels of education, including lifelong learning. She is also supervisor of research students and education doctoral students in Educational Foundations and Policy Studies. Professor David is also a visiting professor at the University of Keele, where she was Professor of Policy Studies in the Department of Education for six years during which time she was responsible for inaugurating the professional doctorate in education (EdD) and becoming its Programme Director. She continues to supervise several doctoral students there. She is co-editor of 21st Century Society: Journal of the Academy of Social Sciences (see url below).

Honours and awards: Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts

Publications include: Personal & Political: Feminisms, Sociology and Family Lives 2003, Degrees of Choice: Social Class, Race and Gender in Higher Education (co-author) 2005, Get Real About Sex: The Politics and Practice of Sex Education (co-author) 2007; numerous articles in professional journals

Contact details: Address: Room 109, Institute of Education, University of London, 55–59 Gordon Square, London, WC1H 0NU, England; Tel: +44 (0)20 7612-6825; Fax: +44 (0)20 7947-9579; Email: m.david@ioe.ac.uk ; Website: http://ioewebserver.ioe.ac.uk/ ; Website: http://www.tlrp.org/ ; Website: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/17450144.asp/ .