Frances graduated from Mary Immaculate College (NUI), Limerick, Ireland with a BEd (Hons) and taught for a number of years at primary level before attending Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, to undertake an MEd, specialising in Educational Management, followed by an MSc in IT in Education. She pursued her Doctorate with the University of Sheffield UK where she researched the feasibility of borrowing the Failure Mode and Effects Analysis technique for the field of higher education and research, which culminated in the development of the Failure Mode Effects Reflective Analysis technique for the field.