From 1973 to 1974, O'Connor was a member of the committee of the AAI, going on become joint secretary and treasurer from 1974 to 1975, and serving as vice-president from 1975 to 1976. Until 1976 she worked with Robinson Keefe & Devane, being elected MRIAI the same year, and was elected the first female president of the AAI and served as the AAI representative to the RIAI council. In 1976 she won the Cement Roadstone housing research fellowship at the school of architecture in UCD, going on to become a tutor there from 1977 to 1990. The result of her research was Housing in Dublin's inner city, published in 1979.
