She grew up in Douglas, Cork, where she attended Eglantine Primary School, Scoil Bhríde, and Regina Mundi College.
She spent the next two years lecturing at QUB, where she also completed a postgraduate certificate in higher education teaching.
[2][4] Her first book, The Blue Wall of Silence: The Morris Tribunal and Police Accountability in Ireland, was published by the Irish Academic Press in 2010.
[1][6] Conway was a member of the Group of States against Corruption, the Council of Europe's anti-corruption monitoring body.
[1][7] Conway wrote a paper for the journal of the Royal Irish Academy in March 2022, where she considered how policing would be structured in a United Ireland.
[1][8] She was a member of Lawyers for Choice and supported the repeal of the Eighth Amendment during the 2018 Abortion Referendum.