During this time she was a postgraduate student at the Institute of Zoology in Regent's Park supervised by Chris Dye, Steve Albon and James Kirkwood.

[5][6] A large part of Cleaveland's research has focused on the epidemiology of zoonotic diseases in northern Tanzania, including rabies.

[14] She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2014 Birthday Honours for services to veterinary epidemiology.

[15] In 2018, Cleaveland was awarded the Leeuwenhoek Lecture by the Royal Society for "her pioneering work towards the eradication of rabies throughout the world".

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