In 2023, Kathleen won the Society for Research into Higher Education Accolade in recognition for her contribution to higher education research. She is particularly known for research on supporting students’ holistic development in higher education and discipline-specificity in learning, teaching, and educational development. She has authored more than 54 peer-reviewed journal articles, two books, and 11 book chapters. She recently co-edited, with Dr Edd Pitt, a special issue of Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy and Practice on signature assessment and feedback and co-authored the literature review of assessment and feedback articles between 2016 - 2021 commissioned by Advance HE.
In the past 10 years, she has been PI on grants from the Centre for Transforming Access and Student Outcomes, the Royal Academy of Engineering HE STEM Programme, the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education, and her own university, as well as Co-I on projects funded by Advance HE and the Higher Education Careers Services Unit. During that time, she has given more than 50 invited talks, including 19 keynotes.