A significant part of her career was spent on the study of locusts at the Anti-Locust Research Centre.
Norris was born in Plymouth where her father was a naval officer.
From 1932 to 34 she studied the biology of the stored grain moth Ephestia.
She examined the role of chemicals in aggregation and locust development and maturation.
She joined her husband on expeditions in 1937 to British Guyana and to the Matto Gross in 1968.