Leading educational sociologist Jean Floud died at the age of 97 on 28 March 2013.

Jean Floud, as a member of the University Grants Committee in the 1960s, played a role in the establishment of the new University of Essex, advising Essex on research into higher education.

Born in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, Jean Floud studied sociology at the London School of Economics. Following posts at Oxford as Assistant Director of Education, and at the Institute of Education she was appointed as the second female Fellow of Nuffield College before accepting the post of Principal at Newnham College, Cambridge in 1983.

Described as ‘one of the most distinguished British sociologists’, her work helped to establish the sociology of education as an important discipline, in particular through Social Class and Education Opportunity, co-authored in 1956, and Education, Economy, and Society: A Reader in the Sociology of Education co-authored in 1961.

A full obituary for Jean Floud was printed in The Guardian newspaper