Ilyena publishes across computer and animal science, receiving paper awards at ACM CHI, one of the top Human-Computer Interaction venues, ACM ISS and ACM ACI. She was the general chair of the ACI Conference in 2024, having been on the Program Committee since 2022. She is also an invited member of the Scottish Primate Research Group. Her research has global recognition, regularly featured in international news, TV and radio, having over 6k articles online of her work, 550k+ views on YouTube talks and online presentations, including three features in The New York Times.

Ilyena has been previously awarded the prestigious Royal Society of Edinburgh Research Fellowship and the ERC StG and has been funded by the Helsinki Institute for Information Technology, the Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance and the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare. She has consulted and published with industry, such as SnapChat, Microsoft Research and Samsung, contributing to executive reports and allocation of industry funds. She has partnered for several years with Blair Drummond Safari Park and Zoo, previously partnering with Korkeassari Zoo. Ilyena has written on technology policy in zoos for the British and Irish Association of Zoos & Aquariums and spoken on the same topic for the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums.