Dr Boni Cairncross was awarded a PhD in Creative Practice for her thesis "What is Seen: Challenging the Five-Sense Hierarchy through Performance and Textile Art" from the University of New South Wales. This practice-based research degree examined the multisensory capacity of art through the intersection of performance, textile art and cultural studies.

Cairncross' creative works and scholarly research are positioned within the disciplines of visual arts and performance studies. Her research interests span contemporary textile art, visual arts, performance art, performance studies and installation art.