In 1966, Kabuye traveled to Europe to work at the
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, where she focused her research on flowering plants in the
Oxalidaceae family. While in Europe, she also visited herbariums across Sweden, France, Italy, and other countries. From 1971 to 1994, Kabuye administrated the East African Herbarium at the
National Museums of Kenya, which she had first joined in 1964. She also led the Kenya Resource Center for Indigenous Knowledge from 1992 to 1996. From 1994 to 1996, she served as president of the International Society of Ethnobiology. In 1985, Kabuye spent time in the United States working at the
Smithsonian Institution and
Southern Methodist University. She was later chosen as a fellow at
Australian National University in 1988. After retiring from the East African Herbarium, Kabuye returned to Uganda, where she worked as a part-time lecturer at
Makerere University beginning in 2004. == Recognition ==