[3][4] McEwen's research and insights are sought for public engagement and political or business briefings during major events like the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum,[5] and the Smith Commission,[6] UK BREXIT[7] and recent elections[8] such as to the Scottish Parliament.
She has been employed at the University of Edinburgh since 2001, starting in the School of Politics as a lecturer, then senior lecturer before taking on the role of Director of Public Policy at the university's Academy of Government in 2012, and Associate Director for Knowledge Exchange and Impact in the School of Social and Political Science to 2016.
McEwen headed up the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Centre on Constitutional Change from 2013 where she is co-director.
[2] McEwen has been Fellow on Between Two Unions: The Constitutional Future of the Islands after Brexit, a multi-facet programme funded by ESRC to examine the inter-relationships between institutions, constitutional issues, economic union issues and the social impact of the UK leaving the EU.
[12] A previous 2017 programme she investigated was on the Repatriation of Competences and the Implications for Devolution in the fields of overlapping jurisdictions on agriculture, the environment/energy, and justice & home affairs.