In 2004, while working for The Independent, she co-authored a report on abuses by United Nations peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which led to being shortlisted for an Amnesty International award, and later to an investigation of the allegations.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, Hughes wrote a series of articles for The Observer, reporting regularly on life during lockdown after being diagnosed with advanced breast cancer.

[1][2][3] After completing her early education in Edinburgh she sat A levels at Woldingham, Surrey, and subsequently attended St Andrews University, where she graduated MA in modern history.

[5] In 2004, while writing for The Independent Hughes co-authored a report with photojournalist Kate Holt on abuses by United Nations peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

[7][9] Their work was described by Simon Cottle, professor of media and communication, as "journalism taking its responsibility to report seriously",[8] and earned them a place on the shortlist for an Amnesty International award in that year.

[18][19] Hughes also wrote several reviews of books, including The Mirror & the Light by Hilary Mantel, An American Marriage by Tayari Jones, and Deborah Orr's Motherwell: A Girlhood.

[4] Her death was reported in The Guardian,[4] in which tributes were paid by its editor-in-chief Katharine Viner,[4] The Observer's editor Paul Webster,[4] and writers Jed Mercurio[4] and Sarah Phelps.

[29][30][31] The inaugural lecture was delivered in December 2021 by Jed Mercurio, as a conversation with health and social care editor at Channel 4 News, Victoria MacDonald.

[33] The first prize, in 2022, was won by BBC journalists, Rachel Schraer and Jack Goodman, for their work in revealing scientific errors that led to some people using ivermectin to treat COVID-19.