Maxwell was born and spent her childhood in Luxembourg.[3] 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 subsequently earned a PhD in 2005 at Royal Holloway College by defending a thesis[5] entitled "Gender versus ‘vulnerability’: how they determine young people's sexual and relationship experiences". She was supervised by Betsy Stanko.
Career and research
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 2005, progressing through appointments as researcher and lecturer, culminating in her appointment as Professor in 2018. She accepted a chair in Sociology at the University of Copenhagen and took up the post in September 2018.[6]
Her broad research interests are concerned with the transnational migration of high-skilled professionals, the sociology of education, and gender and education. Specific current interests include the processes of incorporation by international professionals and their families in new countries and work places, the convertibility of resources during transnational mobility, the internationalisation of education, and the emergence of elite schools around the world. She has been awarded research funding in the UK by the ESRC[7] and in Denmark by the Danish Innovation Fund [8] and the Independent Research Fund Denmark.[9][10]
Working with private and public partners in industry, during 2022 and 2023 Maxwell led the development of research-based digital onboarding tools designed for Danish companies to use as they seek to improve their recruitment and retention of high-skilled international professionals.[11]
In March 2023 Bloomsbury published Sociological Foundations of Education, a new and comprehensive overview of how sociology has shaped the study of education, with Maxwell as lead editor and key chapter author.[13]
Maxwell's most recent monograph was published by Routledge [14] in October 2021. It examines why families travel today – and what happens when they do. Maxwell and her co-authors focus on how social class divergence is forged through movements across borders, and how travel has been influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change.
Maxwell is currently co-editor of the journal International Studies in Sociology of Education,[15] and co-editor of Comparative & International Education Society’s new book series: Education in Global Perspectives,[16] to be published by SUNY Press in 2024. Her work has appeared in a number of high impact journals, including Sociology,[17] the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies,[18] the British Journal of Sociology of Education,[19] and Globalisation, Societies and Education.[20]
Media, science communication, and public engagement
She regularly uses her LinkedIn[23] and X[24] social media accounts to discuss her research and highlight new publications. She has appeared on the FreshEd podcast[25] and has also featured on YouTube talking about her research.[26]
Public educational service
Maxwell has extensive experience of school governance and practical educational policy implementation, at both primary and secondary levels, focusing latterly on international schools. She has served on the board of Rygaards International School in Copenhagen, and was formerly Chair of Governors at West Oxford Community Primary School in the UK. Since May 2024 she has served on the Board of Copenhagen International School.[27]
