Dr Rooney is a Postdoctoral Researcher based at the Strathclyde Institute for Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences. His research interests lie in the development and application of advanced optical imaging methods to the field of microbiology.

Dr Rooney is involved in several ongoing research projects. He is currently funded by the Leverhulme Trust to research new manufacturing and characterisation methods for optical imaging, to democratise access to high-performance microscopy and create open hardware imaging solutions. He is also conducting ongoing research to understand the role of biofilm transport channels which he first identified during his PhD, developing 3D microbial culture platforms, and developing new imaging techniques for the life sciences.

Aside from his research, Dr Rooney is heavily involved in various Learned Societies. He is the current Chair of the Royal Microscopical Society (RMS) Early Career Committee, a member of the RMS Life Sciences Committee, and the RMS Council. Dr Rooney is also a Microbiology Society Champion and a Forging Futures Ambassador for the Scottish Universities Life Sciences Alliance (SULSA). He was awarded the Junior Medal for Microbiology by the Microbiology Society for his PhD research investigating biofilm structure using novel imaging methods and, more recently, the 2023 SULSA Early Career Development Award which funds an ongoing collaboration with researchers at Columbia University, New York, USA.