Sheila M. Willis was as an undergraduate at University College Dublin and subsequently carried out postgraduate research supervised by Anthony Manning for the award of PhD in 1977.
[3] Her final achievement before retiring was overseeing the foundation of a new purpose-built Forensic Science Laboratory building near Celbridge, Co Kildare.
[1][2] Willis has been chair of the Association of Forensic Science Providers and has advised the UK and Irish governments.
[5] In 2024 she was a guest on the BBC Radio 4 programme The Life Scientific, interviewed by Jim Al-Khalili.
[6] Willis was the recipient of the Boyle Higgins gold medal and lecture award from the Institute of Chemistry of Ireland in 2013.