In her early career, she worked as a zooarchaeologist at the Nevada State Museum and research assistant in palaeontology while she obtained a Bachelor of Arts in paleontology at the University of Berkeley.

[4] Vickers-Rich has curated scientific exhibitions of Australian and Gondwanan biota, including at Singapore Science Centre, ArtScience Museum and the Cape Otway Lightstation.

[6] She, along with husband Tom Rich, has led a major effort since the 1970s to locate new fossil localities in her home state of Victoria, Australia.

[8][9] Their field work in Victoria informs their research on interpreting changing climate and biogeographic affinity of the biota of Gondwana during the past 120 million years.

[7] In 2016, Vickers-Rich was awarded an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to the Earth Sciences, particularly palaeontology, as an academic, to education curriculum development, and to international scientific organisations.