She gained prominence after her PhD dissertation went viral on social media, bringing attention to her research topic of the politics of smell descriptions in literature.
"[13] Responding to the backlash, journalist Callum Booth said, "The reaction to Dr Ally Louks’ olfactory PhD, sadly, shows the worst side of the internet.
[14] Andy Parker, Master of Louks' constituent college Peterhouse,[15] issued a statement of support for her, as did Cambridge University itself, congratulating her for finishing her PhD with no corrections and stating they believed the backlash was a sign of harassment and misogyny.
"[17][18][13] Vox called it "a case study in how the online right targets and harasses those who don’t fit into the narrow — and often conflicting — standards they’ve formulated for women.
"[13] In addition, Max La Bouchardiere of Varsity wrote on how this interacts with the neoliberal, anti-intellectual backlash to the humanities and social sciences,[19] which Louks further discussed with Brittany Luse and Jason Stanley on NPR's It's Been a Minute.