[4][5] Dutkiewicz's research is focussed on sedimentology, and covers a suite of rocks and sediments ranging in age from Archaean to Quaternary.
Her research is multi-disciplinary and focusses on global carbon cycles, combining traditional sedimentology with more recent technologies.
The Dorothy Hill award described her as "the first to discover oil inclusions preserved in Archaean and early Precambrian rocks and to demonstrate that primordial biomass was sufficiently abundant to generate hydrocarbons".
She has contributed discovery and insights into the early evolution of life as well as conducting research into the exploration of petroleum.
“So far, the ocean has absorbed a quarter of anthropogenic CO2 and over 90 percent of the associated excess heat.”[12] Her research has also been published and described in other media[13] including the ABC.