Diane Houston

Professor Diane Houston is Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education and Student Experience) at Birkbeck, University of London, and holds a Professorship in Psychology at Birkbeck Business School. Her research focuses on social and personal predictors of academic performance, workplace equality, gender discrimination, and work-life balance. She has led major initiatives including Birkbeck's Student Experience Review (2017) and a JP Morgan-funded project addressing student retention (2022-23). Her work bridges social psychology, sociology, and policy, with notable contributions to UK government equality policy and ESRC advisory roles.

Prof. Houston’s professional memberships include Chartered Psychologist status and British Sociological Association membership. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and British Psychological Society. Her administrative roles include co-chairing the London Higher Teaching and Learning Network and advising Universities UK’s Lifelong Learning Group.

Her research spans over 40 peer-reviewed articles and books, including Work-Life Balance in the 21st Century (2005) and co-authored studies on post-terror prejudice (Psychological Science, 2015) and maternal identity conflict (Journal of Child and Family Studies, 2021). She actively supervises PhDs exploring gender occupational segregation and academic performance predictors.