Building on a background in applied health sciences (prosthetics and orthotics), Valerie has worked in a diversity of roles focused on workplace health and safety and human factors. Valerie's experience spans work health and safety policy development, consultancy, research, rehabilitation, training and education where she has worked for SafeWork South Australia, SafeWork Australia and the former WorkCover Corporation.

As a researcher, Valerie's current project in the Australian Industrial Transformation Institute (AITI) examines human factors in the adoption of advanced technologies (including robotics, end user computing, track and trace technologies and automatic guided vehicles) in designing the digital shipbuilding yard, working with partners BAE Systems.

Previous projects have focused on worker performance in healthcare settings including investigating nurses' health and safety decision making in the context of patient encounters and the influence of aged care workers' job quality and design on health and safety and client care. Valerie specialises in psychosocial hazards, including fatigue and bullying, and the prevention of psychological injury at work. She also researches on the regulation of and policy framework for the management of psychosocial risks at work.

Valerie's teaching speciality is human factors and organisational safety, with an emphasis on sociotechnical systems and work health and safety.