Dr Keary is a graduate of NUI Galway, where she obtained a BSc (Hons) in Experimental Physics in 1987. On graduation she joined Waterford Institute of Technology (now SETU) as a physics lecturer where she also completed her doctorate in 1997 in the area of polymer science. Claire undertook a position as postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles from 1998 – 1999.  She returned to WIT in 1999 and was jointly responsible for setting up a level 8 physics degree at WIT which had its first intake of students in 2005. Claire is course leader on the BSc (Hons) in Physics for Modern Technology.

Claire has research experience in a number of areas including polymer science, optics and environmental radiation monitoring. She has co-supervised two PhD students in the area of fibre optic sensing with the Optics Research Group at WIT.

Claire has worked in the area of environmental radiation monitoiring and gamma ray spectrometry for a number of years and has an ongoing collaroration with the EPA's Office of Radiation Protection and Environmental Monitoring (ORM) since 2015. Her current research interests include environmental monitoring in the Irish coastal environment and the development of accurate methods for the determination of natural (NORM) radionuclides by high-resolution gamma ray spectrometry. She is the group leader of the Environmental Radiation Research Group (ERRG) at SETU which was set up in 2020. 

Claire is principlal investigator on the EPA-funded Radioactivity in the Irish Coastal Environment research project which is being carried out in collaboration with UCD, NUIG and the EPA’s Office of Radiation Protection and Environmental Monitoring.