Elizabeth began her career as a social worker in 1981. After seven years of practice she held a temporary lectureship at Nottingham Polytechnic (now Nottingham Trent University) then became Lecturer in Social Work, and later Senior Lecturer in Social Work, at the University of Bradford.  In 2003 she joined the University of Salford as Senior Research Fellow and became Professor of Social Work at the University of Chester in 2010. Elizabeth is a registered Social Work professional and a fellow at the Higher Education Academy.