Catherine is a DPhil in Education candidate at the University of Oxford, and Doctoral Teaching Fellow in Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition. Her research investigates the effectiveness of using songs as pedagogical tools with young second language learners in formal educational settings. Prior to joining the Department of Education in 2020, Catherine taught English and foreign languages in secondary schools and early years settings for 15 years.

Additionally, Catherine hosts The Language Revolution podcast, exploring how linguistics and language awareness might inform/transform languages teaching with guests including Michael Rosen and David Crystal. She also chairs the annual conference for NALDIC, the national subject association for EAL.