Roberta is Professor of Performance and Executive Dean of the School of Performing and Digital Arts at Royal Holloway University of London; and the Principal Investigator for the Transitioning to Sustainable Production across the UK Theatre Sector project (co-commissioned by the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre and Arts Council England). In addition to a commitment to exploring and celebrating "green" theatre practices, her research – which takes the form of both performance and writing – tends to focus on sex-gender and bodies, with a specific interest in live art and stand up comedy by Jewish women. She is the author or editor of five books, and the Immediate Past Chair of the Theatre & Performance Research Association (TaPRA).

Championing and celebrating embodied knowledge at all stages of a research career, Roberta has written and spoken about and led workshops across the UK, in Canada and in Europe on practice-research methodologies. She was the founding co-Director of the AHRC-funded 3D3 Centre for Doctoral Training (a partnership between the Universities of Plymouth, Falmouth and West of England Bristol), which supported only practice-led research projects in digital art, design, culture and performance. She has supervised over 25 PhDs and research masters to successful completion, many of which have been located at the disciplinary boundaries of performance.