She remained there for her doctoral research, where she studied regulation of the embryonic cell cycle in (the African clawed frog Xenopus laevis) in 1994.
[6] After a short period as a postdoctoral research fellow investigating cardiovascular disease at the University of Sussex, Cardew decided to work in science publishing.
[6] She worked as an editor for the Novartis Foundation symposia series, supporting biomedical researchers in leading proposals for future events.
[1][9] She serves as Chair of the EuroScience Open Forum Advisory Board, through which she devices the host cities of their annual events.
She represented the Royal Institution at a Government of the United Kingdom roundtable on effective ways to encourage girls to choose physics, engineering and mathematics.