Dr. Paula Sheppard

Biography

Paula Sheppard completed her MSc in Cognitive Evolutionary Anthropology at Oxford and MSc in Social Research Methods at the London School of Economics in 2011. She was awarded a PhD from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 2014. She then worked as a post-doctoral researcher before returning to Oxford in 2016, taking a post-doctoral position in the Sociology department. There, she investigated the impact of family size on socioeconomic inequality and the role of grandparents in social mobility. She has been part of the School of Anthropology since 2019, providing instruction for Medical Evolutionary Anthropology MSc degrees and undergraduates in Human Sciences. Her research explores reproductive decision-making, the evolution of childhood, and family ecology, employing life-history theory to examine family size, child health, and racism in sciences and medicine. She applies mixed methodologies to understand social phenomena regarding family planning, particularly barriers faced by individuals in high-income countries. She has explored the importance of social support in gender equality and childcare for highly educated women. Currently, she is involved in a broad cross-cultural study on family size and child health outcomes, as well as an evolutionary dynamics project funded by Templeton.

Research Interests

Experience