Aoife employs rights-based approaches in her research to advance the inclusion and participation of individuals with speech, language and communication needs in society. Aoife has an international reputation as an expert in child voice. She co-developed a framework for participation for use in schools with researchers from QUT, Australia. She was an invited member of an international consortium (CATALISE) led by the University of Oxford, aimed at agreeing terminology and diagnostic criteria for children and young people with DLD. She is national lead in knowledge translation efforts to facilitate the uptake of the findings from CATALISE into policy and practice. Aoife was PI for a HRI-HIST funded implementation science project aimed at establishing the feasibility of a communication friendly tool for use in Irish classrooms. Aoife is currently leading on qualitative research with children with DLD as part of an NIH funded project exploring gender- related service inequities. Aoife is also UL lead on a HEA funded study aimed at implementing gender-informed workload allocation models to support women in academia. Aoife represents Ireland as a management committe member of a COST Action (CA22139 - Justice to youth language needs: human rights undermined by an invisible disadvantage (Y-JustLang).

Aoife has taught a range of discipline specific topics such as clinical linguistics, childhood language development, and sociology and psychology for SLT practice. She also teaches a range of health services and population health topics. She contributes to the teaching of inter-professional (IPE) modules across the School of Allied Health (Preparation for Practice, Engaging with Complexity, Innovations in HealthCare, Research Methods). Aoife is a visiting lecturer at Mary Immaculate College, contributing to the PG Diploma in Inclusive and Special Education, and the B.Ed in Inclusive Education. Aoife completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Teaching, Learning and Scholarship at UL in 2021. Aoife led on a successful tender to design and deliver the only approved inter-faculty qualification programme for Registered Intermedaries funded by the Department of Justice.