Pemberton spent a decade working in financial services as an analyst before moving into academia.
He graduated from the Open University with a Bachelor of Arts degree, before completing a Master of Arts degree in contemporary history at the University of Bristol, here he also carried out doctoral studies; his PhD was awarded in 2001 for his thesis "The Keynesian-plus experiment: a study of social learning in the UK core executive, 1960–1966".
He stayed on at Bristol as an Economic and Social Research Council postdoctoral fellow, before spending two years at the London School of Economics as a British Academy postdoctoral fellow.
[1][2] Pemberton's research has focused on British economic and social policy since the Second World War.
He has studied pensions, administration and the Civil Service, and party politics.