From 1978 to 1986, Dunn was a
Fellow of
King's College, Cambridge, and a
Medical Research Council Senior Scientific Officer. an Evan Pugh Professorship is the "highest honor the institution can give to a member of its faculty". From 1995 to 2012, she was
Professor of Developmental Psychology at the
Institute of Psychiatry,
King's College, London. Dunn specializes in children's social emotional and sociocognitive development, parent-child, sibling and peer relationships, and the development of language and communication abilities.
Other work Dunn is Chair of
The Children's Society's Good Childhood Inquiry, established in 2006, which explores and measures children’s subjective well-being. ==Personal life==