Dianne Jackson trained as an Early Childhood Teacher and taught in a broad range of community, early childhood and school settings. Dianne then became a lecturer in the School of Education at the University of Western where she completed a First Class Honours degree in Social Science.  Since 2004 Dianne has held the position of Chief Executive Officer at Connect Child and Family Services, an NGO in outer western Sydney that delivers a broad range of early childhood focused programs with families.  Dianne holds an adjunct position at the University of Western Sydney where she completed her PhD in 2010 and her doctoral research won the 2010 European Early Childhood Research Association (EECERA) Best Practitioner Research Award. Dianne co-convenes an EECERA special interest research group with Pen Green in the UK and her organisation has recently opened an innovative parent and child meeting place, conceptually based on collaborative work she has done with her EECERA colleagues from the University of Ghent. Dianne is also the New South Wales state convenor for the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth.