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. In 2004, he took up a lectureship at Bristol, where he is Professor of Contemporary British History as of 2018. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society."Professor Hugh Pemberton", University of Bristol. Retrieved 11 September 2018."The Keynesian-plus experiment : a study of social learning in the UK core executive, 1960–1966", EThOS (British Library). Retrieved 11 September 2018.
