Penny Summerfield

Born in 1951 in London, Summerfield is the daughter of Arthur Summerfield, a professor, and Aline Whalley, a psychologist. She attended the University of Sussex, graduating with a BA in 1973, an MA in 1976 and a DPhil in 1982.^[1] Her doctoral studies were supervised by Stephen Yeo.^[2]

Summerfield was a research assistant and tutor at Durham University from 1976 to 1978.^[1] She then taught at the Lancaster University from 1978,^[3] first as a lecturer in the social history of education,^[1] and latterly as Professor of Women's History (1994–2000).^[3] She moved to the University of Manchester in 2000 to be Professor of Modern History; there, she served as head of the School of History and Classics (2002–2003) and the School of Arts, Histories and Cultures (2003–2006).^[3]

In 2020, Summerfield was elected a fellow of the British Academy, the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and social sciences.^[4] She is also a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences^[5] and the Royal Historical Society,^[6] and was the chair of the Social History Society from 2008 to 2011.^[7]