She was a specialist in Porifera and Cnidaria with both Scharff and Stephens taking part in the Royal Irish Academy Clare Island Survey.
The Patch reefs from Valle di Rimbianco present a diverse fauna of fossilized calcitic sponges (Porifera), corals (Cnidaria), bivalves and gastropods (Mollusca), Brachiopoda and Echinodermata.