She was formerly a Professor of Irish Studies and Sociology at London Metropolitan University and director of its Institute for the Study of European Transformations.
She was a member of the Irish Governments Task Force on Policy Regarding Emigrants (2001-2002).
Her current research interests centre on migrations and diasporas.
[1] She has been a key figure in the documentation of The Irish Diaspora.
[2] An important analysis of nineteenth-century attitudes by Mary J. Hickman and Bronwen Walter showed that the 'Irish Catholic' was once viewed as an "other" or a different race in the construction of the British nationalist myth.