After completing her PhD in Cultural Studies, at Goldsmiths College, University of London in 2011, Alison taught at the University of Iceland, Beijing Foreign Studies University, University College Dublin, and Royal Holloway, University of London. She was also the Ron Lister Visiting Fellow at the University of Otago, New Zealand in 2014. Alison is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and Chair of the UK Global Studies Association (GSA), as well as Chair of the Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism (ASEN).She joined the University of Northampton in 2017. Before becoming an academic, she was a radio and TV presenter.

Alison specialises in the socio-economic development of China, alongside consumption, globalisation and material culture, more generally. Her academic background spans Media Studies, Anthropology and Cultural Studies, and she made her way to International Development via Politics and Human Geography, so has genuinely interdisciplinary credentials. 

Anastasia Ngon

Doctoral research project - 'Understanding Corporate Social Responsibility in Developing Countries. Case Study of Companies in The Nigerian Financial Sector'. (Alison is the 'methodological expert' on this supervisory team, advising on qualitative research techniques and analysis.)

Mohamed Fauzi Marzuki

Doctoral research project - 'Redefining luxe boundaries: Luxury goods purchase decision from the lens of Cadillac'.

Elodie Rene

Doctoral research project - 'Harnessing alternative economic growth in Northamptonshire: Learning from the eco-innovation of small businesses in the UK and developing countries' (Alison won funding for this project, enabling Elodie's studentship.)

Alison is module leader on the undergraduate modules International Development: Social and Cultural Issues and Debates; Globalisation and Development in the 21st Century, and the International Fieldtrip Module, and on the postgraduate module Political Economies of International Development. In addition, she teaches on the third year undergraduate module Development and Change in the Global South and supervises PhD students.