Born and brought up in Barry, south Wales, Diane studied archaeology at universities in Cardiff and Bradford. She spent time in the field supervising Manpower Services projects before returning to Wales to complete a doctorate in environmental archaeology.

Escaping the laboratory and academia, Diane then moved to public sector heritage where she has worked for more than 30 years. She spent most of this time at Cadw (Welsh Government’s historic environment service), with a brief interlude working for the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England/English Heritage.

She was involved with the interpretation and presentation of historic monuments to the public. She contributed to a significant body of guidance to support the 2016 Historic Environment (Wales) Act, now consolidated as the Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2023.

Diane has published papers on environmental archaeology and guides for Cadw sites. She is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, a member of the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists and a fieldworker contributing to the Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Great Britain and Ireland.