In 2017 she graduated with a PhD from the University of Auckland, Faculty of Education and Social Work. Recently her paper, “Possibilities for a Transition with Dignity: Silos and Trialling in Aotearoa New Zealand,” was selected through a blind-review process to receive the 2018 Council for Exceptional Children, Division for Research, Student Research Award in the area of Qualitative Design. She is the first PhD student outside the USA to receive this award.