Joy has enjoyed a career in education, holding various teaching, advisory and administrative positions including that of Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Durham University responsible for research and human resources management. She has served as advisor to various international Governments on the development of policies and strategies for implementing Education for Sustainable Development and has published widely in the fields of Environmental Cognition. She is a Vice-President and past Chair of the National Association for Environmental Education.

She is Vice-Chair of Council and Chair of Grants Committee of a substantial national charity which makes grants to other charities for developing educational opportunities in the UK and internationally and is also Chair of the Charity Project Sri Lanka. As a Justice of the Peace she has presided in Adult and Family Proceedings Courts and was Deputy Chair of the Lord Chancellor's Advisory Committee (Northumbria) for the recruitment and appointment of Magistrates. 

Joy's association with Rotary International began in 1980 when she was fortunate enough to be awarded a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarship to study at Stanford University, hosted by District 5170. This was an incredible life-changing experience and from then on, she maintained association with many Rotary Clubs in California and elsewhere until time allowed to become a full-time Rotarian in Alnwick in 2005. She was a Rotary GB&I Champion of Change in 2016, awarded for her international humanitarian work in Sri Lanka. She has held various District roles including AG, DGN, DGE, Mediator, and RotaKids and Interact lead, and will be District Governor until the end of the Rotary year 2024-25. She is a member of the governing Board of Rotary Great Britain and Ireland, representing the cohort of District Governors 2024-25, and is a member of the Board's communications work-stream.

When not at work or 'doing' Rotary, Joy enjoys being a keen runner, a passionate gardener, and loves travel and walking in the north-west Highlands of Scotland with Rotarian husband David.