As an academic she has taught, written and researched in the fields of critical psychology, affect studies, psychoanalysis, cultural studies, artistic practice and theory, social theory, class, gender and feminism, community and de-industruialisation and neoliberalism.
Having wanted only to study art as a child, she did not pursue this for many years because, as a working class girl and the first person in her family to go on to higher education, it was presented as something that could not lead to stable and secure work. However, her ambition never left her and she went on to study art as a mature student, going on to combine artistic practice and research with academic work and writing.