 She was a lecturer at various academic institutions including Bocconi, Boston and Harvard universities, Goethe University Frankfurt, London School of Economics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Queens College, City University of New York, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.In 2012 Diamantopoulou became a Fisher Family Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and in 2015 was named Distinguished Scholar by the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.A civil engineer by training, Diamantopoulou's political career began in 1984, when she was appointed as a Prefects of Kastoria.