As a teenager, she regularly visited the Department of Chemistry at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) where her mother, a nurse, was seconded to work on a scientific study to monitor lead levels in the blood of children exposed to petroleum.

[19][23] She has previously been a member of the Prime Minister's Science, Engineering and Innovation Council (PMSEIC),[22][24] a member of the University Advisory Board for Coursera,[13][25] the National Research Infrastructure Council,[21] the Cooperative Research Centre Programme[21] and served as an Education Specialist on the Board of the Australian National Selection Commission for UNESCO.

[20][26] Throughout her career, Sheil has sought to find ways to progress the participation, success and recognition of girls and women in STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) fields.

Professor Sheil gave the 2014 Diana Temple Memorial Lecture[27] at the University of Sydney charting her own experiences and life history against the backdrop of the changing constraints and opportunities that applied to women during those decades.

[34] Professor Sheil has gained attention recently for her support of Queensland University of Technology's decision to remove all references to the word "merit" from its hiring policy, claiming that such terminology never achieves its stated goals and preferring instead to move towards a more "inclusive suitability assessment".