Palmer was a school teacher before moving into academia, joining
Loughborough College as a
lecturer in 1969. She was promoted to
senior lecturer in 1972, before moving to
Loughborough University in 1977. She served as head of its History Department from 1983 to 1988. In 1988, she joined
Leicester University as a senior lecturer in history. She was additionally a Member of the
Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England from 1993 to 1999. From 1998 to 2000, she was head of its Archaeology Division and
Reader in Industrial Archaeology. Having been appointed the United Kingdom's first Professor of Industrial Archaeology, she was Head of the School of Archaeology and Ancient History from 2000 to 2006. She retired from full-time academia in 2008, and was made
emeritus professor. On 2 February 1991, Palmer was elected a
Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA). In the
2015 Birthday Honours, she was appointed
Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to industrial archaeology and heritage. ==Selected works==