Dianne's research interests are in the application of DNA technologies for biodiversity conservation outcomes. Specifically this has been applied to population genetics of threatened species (invertebrates & vertebrates) and in the developing field of wildlife forensics. She is interested in application of next generation sequencing technologies to applications within ecology such as species detection from trace DNA samples and diet analysis of gut/scat contents.

Facilitating the translation of fundamental research through to accessible services for end-users such as conservation management agencies, and environmental regulatory authorities is also a prime focus. This development of these services is a major activity within the Institute of Applied Ecology and the Wildlife Genetics Laboratory.

Dianne is also the Director of a wildlife and environmental focused DNA diagnostic service, EcoGene, which based in the Wildlife Genetics Laboratory, University of Canberra and the Ecological Genetics Laboratory, Landcare Research New Zealand.

Her specific teaching responsibilities at undergraduate level are in Population Genetics and she also supervises honours and postgraduate students working on environmental genomics.

Environmental genetics Population Genomics Wildlife Forensics