Maria Slowey is Emeritus Professor in the School of Policy and Practice and Founding Director of the Higher Education Research Centre (HERC), Institute of Education. In DCU, from 2004 to 2008, she also served as Vice President (Learning Innovation) and Registrar. Prior to returning to Ireland she held senior roles in universities in Scotland and England, including: Glasgow University (1992-2004) where she was Professor of Adult and Continuing Education, Vice-Dean Research and Founding Director of the Centre for Research and Development in Adult and Lifelong Learning (CRADALL), and Northumbria University (1984-1992) as Senior Lecturer, subsequently Head of the Centre for Continuing Education and Widening Access.

Her research and policy activities focus on comparative higher education and sociological analysis of equality and access to higher education and lifelong learning opportunities over the life course. She has published extensively on these matters and acted as expert advisor and committee member to a range of bodies and associations including: UNESCO, OECD, EC, European Universities Association, Council of Europe, European Training Foundation, the Scottish Parliament Committee on Lifelong Learning, the Scottish Independent Committee of Inquiry on Student Finance, the UK RAE (Research Assessment Exercise) Panel for Continuing Education, several committees of HEFCE and SHEFC (Higher Education Funding Councils for England and Scotland), the Strategic Research Board of the British Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the Irish higher education CAO (Central Applications Office), and the Asia-Europe Ministerial Meeting (ASEM) Lifelong Learning Hub. Maria is active in relevant learned societies in which she has held elected positions including: Vice-Chair of Council and Chair of the R&D Committee of the Society for Research in Higher Education (SRHE), Executive member of UALL (Universities Association of Lifelong Learning) and Vice-Chair of the Committee for Social Sciences of the Royal Irish Academy (RIA).  She is a founder member of the International Advisory Board of the Higher Education Reform (HER) network.

She is Senior Editor of the leading international journal, Studies in Higher Education. Other Editorships and Editorial Boards include: Founding Editor of the Scottish Journal of Adult and Continuing Education (subsequently the Journal of Adult and Continuing Education); Studies in the Education of Adults; The Adult Learner;  Springer Lifelong Learning Series; and, she is a  reviewer for the other major journals in the field of higher education and lifelong learning.

She has held visiting positions at international centres of excellence including: CSHE, Nagoya University (2018); Stanford University, Graduate School of Education (2017); Florence University, School of Education, Italy (2016 and 2017); Oxford University, UK (Kellogg College 1999); DAAD (German Academic Exchange) Guest Professorship, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany (2011); CSHE Melbourne University, Australia (2009); Cambridge University (Homerton College, 2009); and University of British Columbia, Centre for Policy Studies in HE, Canada (2008).

In 2009, Maria was elected a Fellow of the (British) Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS); in 2015 she was Inaugurated