As a university academic who has been involved in teacher education for three decades, she specializes in research on professional development and on the processes of learning to teach. In 1997 she was awarded a University Teaching Fellowship by the University of Hong Kong in recognition of her excellence in teaching. Since then, her research interests have extended to the quality of teaching and learning in higher education, and to the building of learning communities. In 1999-2000 she held a Universitas 21 Fellowship at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Since 2001, she has been an Honorary Professor at Hangzhou Normal University in China, where she initiated the building of a learning community under the theme, "Teachers and Teacher Education in Action Learning" (TATEAL).