Professor Ahern is a Fellow of the College and a member of the Board. Her research agenda as a member of the School of Law's Corporate Law, Governance and Capital Markets Research Group engages with the societal and legal expectations of companies and their directors. Director of the Irish Corporate Law Forum and a former President of Trinity Women Graduates, Professor Ahern has written and spoken nationally and internationally on the role of law in ensuring that women are represented at the decision-making table in business. She led a government-funded comparative study which explored the impact of differing national regulatory regimes concerning gender representation on corporate boards on commitment by listed companies to drive gender balance in senior management roles.