Pamela is a registered psychologist, having qualified originally in speech pathology. Her research has been funded by nationally competitive schemes such as the ARC Discovery Program, ARC Linkage Program, and the Criminology Research Council, and spans various aspects of risk in childhood and adolescence, in particular: the oral language skills of high-risk young people (youth offenders and those in the state care system), and the role of oral language competence as an academic and mental health protective factor in childhood and adolescence; applying evidence in the language-to-literacy transition in the early years of school; and, linguistic aspects of investigative interviewing with children / adolescents as witnesses, suspects, victims in criminal investigations.

Pamela has taught a wide range of undergraduate health professionals, and also has experience in undergraduate and postgraduate teacher education. She has research links with the education, welfare and justice sectors, and her research has been published in a wide range of international journals. She is frequently called upon to address education, health, welfare, and forensic audiences. Pamela has over 170 publications, comprising refereed papers, book chapters, monographs and research reports. In 2017, Pamela was a member of the National Year 1 Literacy and Numeracy Panel, convened by the then Federal Minister for Education, the Hon. Simon Birmingham.

In 2020, Pamela established, with her colleague, Associate Professor Tanya Serry, the Science of Language and Reading (SOLAR) Lab in the School of Education at La Trobe University. The SOLAR Lab is a platform for research, teaching, advocacy and postgraduate supervision on a wide range of topics pertaining to developmental language and the transition to reading, writing and spelling in the school years.