A 2005 graduate from the University of Limerick with a BSc. in Mathematical Sciences and Computing (majoring in Statistics). Norma subsequently began a PhD at UL in 2005 with Dr. Kevin Hayes, examining the use of the linear mixed-effects model in functional data analysis. She graduated in 2008 and then spent a year lecturing statistics in UL. In 2009 she began a postdoctoral position with Professor John Hinde at NUI Galway, developing models to cluster time-course microarray data. In 2011, she was appointed as a lecturer in statistics at UCD, this was a joint appointment between the School of Mathematical Sciences and Systems Biology Ireland. Norma accepted a lecturing position at the University of Limerick in September 201 and is currently a Professor of Data Science & Statistical Learning in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics.

Her main area of interest is in the statistical modelling of time-course/functional data using the mixed-effects model, Modelling -omics data, e.g. RNA-seq data, mass spectrometry data, ChiP-seq data, etc., biostatistics and statistical modelling in biomechanics