[1] She then managed the Te Pūmanawa Hauora Māori Health Research Programme at Massey.
[2][1] Gillies was Director of Te Au Rangahau, the Māori Business Research Centre at Massey, and lectured in the School of Management.
[1] Gillies was appointed Professor of Māori and Indigenous Research at Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiārangi in Whakatāne.
[1][3] With David Tipene-Leach, she is co-director of the Māori research centre Te Kura i Awarua, at the Hawke’s Bay Campus of EIT.
[4][5][6] Gillies is part of the Ngā Pae o Te Māramatanga Centre of Research Excellence where she is researching Māori governance structures,[7][8] and part of the Indigenising the blue economy project in the Sustainable Seas National Science Challenge.