her main areas of research lie in the history of anglo-saxon england, particularly anglo-saxon monasteries, women and religion, and the cistercians. she also works on the history of the early medieval church and society as well as the invention of the english in historiography, and historical theory. in 2001 she was awarded a major grant to carry out research into the ruined cistercian abbeys of yorkshire. she has written a biography of aethelstan, the first king of all england. among her current projects are the charters of bury st edmunds abbey.