She made a contribution to economics before becoming widely known as an editor, translator, and interpreter of Buddhist texts in the Pāli language.

[5] Rhys Davids was home schooled by her father and then attended University College, London studying philosophy, psychology, and economics (PPE).

It was her psychology tutor George Croom Robertson who "sent her to Professor Rhys Davids",[6] her future husband, to further her interest in Indian philosophy.

[7] As a student, she was already a prolific writer and a vocal campaigner in the movements for poverty relief, children's rights, and women's suffrage.

[8] In 1896 Rhys Davids published two sets of lecture notes by her former teacher and mentor George Croom Robertson: one on psychology[9] and one on philosophy.

Thus, among her first works were a translation of the Dhamma Sangani, a text from the Theravāda Abhidhamma Piṭaka, which she published under the title A Buddhist manual of psychological ethics: Being a translation, now made for the first time, from the original Pāli, of the first book in the Abhidhamma Piṭaka, entitled: Dhamma-sangaṇi (Compendium of States or Phenomena) (1900); a second early translation was that of the Therīgāthā, a canonical work of verses traditionally ascribed to early Buddhist nuns (under the title Psalms of the Sisters [1909]).

Rhys Davids held two academic positions: Lecturer in Indian Philosophy at Victoria University of Manchester (today University of Manchester) (1910–1913); and Lecturer in the History of Buddhism at the School of Oriental Studies, later renamed the School of Oriental and African Studies (1918–1933).

Vivien won the Clara Evelyn Mordan Scholarship to St Hugh's College, Oxford in 1915,[14] later serving as a Surrey County Councillor, and receiving an MBE in 1973.

[15] Arthur was a gifted scholar and a decorated World War I fighter ace, but was killed in action in 1917.