Prior to joining the department in 2018, Diane was Professor of Education and Dean of Education and Social Work at The University of Sydney in Australia. She has previously held positions at the University of California at Berkeley in the United States and at Victoria University, Deakin University and The University of Queensland in Australia. She is currently Honorary Professor at The University of Sydney and also at The University of Queensland.

Diane was PI on the Australian Research Council funded project Studying the Effectiveness of Teacher Education (2011-2015) and the related Australian Government funded project Longitudinal Teacher Education and Workforce Study. These were large-scale, mixed-methods, longitudinal studies designed to investigate the effectiveness of teacher education in preparing teachers for the variety of school settings in which they begin their teaching careers.