Professor O’Connor began her career in archaeology at The University of New England before completing her PhD from The University of Western Australia in 1991. Sue's research in the Kimberley spans more than 20 years and provided the first evidence of occupation of the Kimberley region dating back beyond 40,000 years, as well as the earliest evidence for rock art production in Australia.
Her research interests include the maritime colonisation of Australia and Southeast Asia; interactions between humans and their environment; human impacts on the environment; and rock art. Fieldwork for this research has taken Sue to remote locations such as Arnhem Land, the Kimberley, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Timor Leste.