[2] Starting in 1979, Boyack studied Modern History and Politics at the University of Glasgow, graduating with a Scottish MA Honours degree.

In this role, she received the RSPB Goldcrest Award in November 2004 for the most outstanding contribution to the development of environmental policy in Scotland since devolution.

[2] She stood down from the committee in January 2007, when she returned to the Scottish Executive as Deputy Minister for the Environment and Rural Development.

Following a landslide victory by the SNP in the election, Boyack co-chaired a review of the Labour Party in Scotland with Jim Murphy, commissioned by Ed Miliband in May 2011 and which reported back in Autumn of that year.

[9][10] On 28 October 2014, Boyack declared she would stand in the upcoming election to become the Leader of the Scottish Labour Party.

[12] She served as a member of the Parliament's Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment (RACCE) Committee during its scrutiny of the Land Reform Bill 2015.

[16] On 30 April 2019, it was announced Boyack would return to the Scottish Parliament as a list MSP, following Kezia Dugdale's decision to vacate her seat in the summer.