Lorraine is a lecturer in Industrial Relations & Human Resource Management in the Department of Personnel & Employment Relations. She graduated from the University of Limerick with a BBS in 2002, an MBS (Human Resource Management) in 2003 and a PhD in 2010. Lorraine is a former IRCHSS government of Ireland scholar. 

Her main research interests currently centre on annual hours contracts in Ireland, focusing particularly on worker perceptions of partnership and mutual gains. Lorraine also researches industrial relations in the airline industry and from 2007 to 2010 was part of an international consortium of airline researchers. Lorraine has presented papers at a number of national and international conferences.