[5] Vivalt's main research interests are the study of obstacles to evidence-based policy decisions.
[6][7] She is considered an expert on evidence aggregation and the use of Bayesian hierarchical models[8] and is known for her work on metascience.
She found that most development interventions cannot be distinguished from one another in terms of the impacts that they have on a particular outcome[12] and that effect sizes greatly vary within a particular intervention-outcome combination.
[13] Her work in this area has been cited by Angus Deaton, Lant Pritchett, and other leading economists[14] and has entered the public discourse.
Vivalt is a member of Giving What We Can, a community of people who have pledged to donate 10% of their income to the world's most effective charitable organisations.