A new calorimeter for measurements of the AC heat capacity and magnetocaloric effect of small samples in pulsed magnetic fields is discussed for the exploration of thermal and thermodynamic properties at temperatures down to 2 K. We tested the method up to mu 0H = 50 Tesla, but it could be extended to higher fields. For these measurements we used carefully calibrated bare chip Cernoxtextregistered and RuO2 thermometers, and we present a comparison of their performance. The monotonic temperature and magnetic field dependences of the magneto resistance of RuO2 allow us to carry on precise thermometry with a precision as good as pm 1mK at T = 2 K. To test the performance of our calorimeter, AC heat capacity and magnetocaloric effect for the spin-dimer compound Sr3Cr2O8 and the triangular lattice antiferromagnet RbFe(MoO4)2 are presented.