Her academic work aimed, on the one hand, to firmly establish ‘Gender and Science’ within the academic landscape. Through her research projects, she placed particular emphasis on gender studies in biological contexts. She examined the interweaving of zoological and botanical knowledge production with socio-cultural conceptions of gender, as well as the reflection of gender relations in zoological and botanical taxonomy.

Dr Smilla Ebeling contributed to the reorientation of Women’s and Gender Studies within the field of study programme development. To this end, she was part of a working group comprising members of the ZFG and the ZGS at the University of Bremen, which devised a concept for a joint Gender Studies degree programme within the bachelor’s system; she also played a part in its introduction in the winter semester 2007/08 and its subsequent establishment. Until the end of 2008, she served as a member of the Gender Studies Programme Committee, at times in the role of Chair. Dr Smilla Ebeling was involved in the teaching programme for both the Master’s minor in Women’s and Gender Studies and the BA in Gender Studies, teaching four semester hours per week in each programme until the winter semester 2009/10. She regularly delivered lectures on the fundamentals of gender studies and led seminars whose content was based on her research focuses: e.g. ‘Animal and Human: Gender in Human–Animal Relationships’, ‘Gender Politics in Zoos and Museums’, ‘Gender Politics in Zoological Gardens and Natural History Museums’, etc. Her commitment to research-oriented teaching and the promotion of early-career researchers was widely recognised within the university community. In December 2006, she won the Teaching Award (1st place) for the 2005/2006 academic year at the University of Oldenburg.

Furthermore, JP Dr Smilla Ebeling successfully advocated for the development of the specialisation in ‘Gender and Natural Sciences’ within the BA programme in Gender Studies by securing visiting female academics through the Maria Goeppert Mayer Programme. Thanks to her extensive international collaborative relationships and strong professional networks within the ‘Gender and Science’ academic community, she was able to secure the following visiting scholars for the winter semester 2006/07: Prof. Dr Londa Schiebinger, Stanford University, USA, for the 2007 summer semester; Prof. Dr Bonnie Spanier, University at Albany (New York, USA), for the 2007/08 winter semester; Dr Helene Götschel for the 2008/09 winter semester; and HD. Dr Sigrid Schmitz as visiting professors at the ZFG.

In addition to her research and teaching activities, JP Dr Smilla Ebeling was involved in numerous committees at the ZFG and at Carl von Ossietzky University: until September 2009, she was a member of the ZFG Centre Council; in 2006 –2008 as Deputy Director; until the end of 2010, a member of the editorial board for the series ‘Studien interdisziplinäre Geschlechterforschung’; and until the end of 2008, a member of the ‘Senate's Committee on the Advancement of Women and Gender Equality (KFG)’. She maintained close professional co-operation with the “State Working Group of Gender Studies Institutions in Lower Saxony (LAGEN)”, as well as with the “Conference of Institutions for Women’s and Gender Studies in German-speaking Countries (KEG)” and the “Gender Studies Association (GSA)”. She was actively represented in all these organisations and successfully championed the ZFG’s positions and interests. Despite intensive efforts and negotiations, it was not possible to secure a permanent position for the junior professorship, and Dr Smilla Ebeling left the ZFG in September 2009. It is thanks to her academic expertise that, between 2003 and 2009, ‘Gender and Science’ was firmly established at the ZFG as an innovative perspective in research and teaching, and that internationally renowned female academics worked at the ZFG as part of the Maria Goeppert-Mayer Programme.