Kate Prickett (nee Chambers)

As a family sociologist and demographer, Kate’s research is focused on the ways in which the connection between family contexts and children’s health and wellbeing is implicated in the intergenerational transmission of inequality. A particular emphasis of this research is to understand how interpersonal processes between parents and children are embedded within a complex array of proximate ecological settings (such as work and child care) and broader systems of stratification (e.g., gender, socioeconomic status).

In 2018, Kate was appointed Director of of the Roy McKenzie Centre for the Study of Families and Children at the Victoria Business School at the University of Wellington. She previously worked at the University of Waikato where she was a Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Social Policy. Previous to that she held postgraduate research positions at the University of Chicago and the University of Texas at Austin (also where she also completed her PhD). Kate’s research is focused on the ways in which the connection between family contexts and children’s health and wellbeing is implicated in the intergenerational transmission of inequality.

Kate spent six months in 2008 working at Motu as a research analyst, exploring issues related to rural land use, telecommunications infrastructure, and Maori migration.