Joyce joined the University of Huddersfield in 2010 as a Senior Lecturer in Midwifery with responsibilities in research and education. She qualified as a midwife in 1984 and she has worked clinically in a range of settings in different areas within the UK including: Salisbury, Guildford, West Dorset and Leeds. More recently Joyce has been actively involved in a combination of research and education. She completed Master of Public Health degree at the University of Liverpool in 1995, and won a Fellowship award that enabled her to complete a PhD at the University of Leeds in 2004. Since then she has worked as a researcher in primary care at the University of Leeds (2002–2006) and as a Midwifery Lecturer at the University of York (2006–2010).

Joyce conducts research related to maternal and child health and midwifery practice and has particular expertise in infant feeding. She has supervised three PhD students to completion, is currently supervising a further four PhD students and regularly supervises students undertaking Masters Dissertations. She has examined four PhD theses, a Professional Doctorate and a Masters by Research on topics relating to midwifery practice and infant feeding. She has been an external examiner for a Master of Public Health and Health Promotion from 2013 to 2018.

• Maternal/child health and knowledge use in clinical practice 
• Infant feeding young child nutrition