Dean is a Professor at the University of Sydney, specializing in the history and philosophy of modern physics. He is also Co-Director of the University's Centre of Time, which studies the nature and psychology of time. His primary research interests are in the history and philosophy of modern physics, particularly quantum gravity and spacetime physics. He also has strong interests in economic physics, population health, and musicology. Dean holds a PhD from the University of Leeds in conceptual issues in quantum gravity. Between 2005 and 2007, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Calgary. In 2008 he was awarded a 5-year ARC Australian Research Fellowship, and in 2014 he was awarded a 4-year ARC Future Fellowship for research in quantum gravity. Dean has many academic interests beyond physics, philosophy, and history, including the study of consciousness, AI and machine learning, musicology, art, architecture, economics, public health, theology and religion, and psychology.

At THE NEW INSTITUTE, Dean was involved in the program "Conceptions of Human Flourishing".