Allison joined Birmingham Law School as an Assistant Professor in 2025 from the University of Kent where she worked as a lecturer from 2019 following the completion of her PhD. Allison is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She holds an LLM in Human Rights and Criminal Justice and an LLB (hons) from the University of Limerick, as well as a BA in International Affairs and Economics from George Washington University. She has held visiting fellowships at Dublin City University and the University of Melbourne.

Allison’s research sits at the intersection of law, technology, and criminal justice, focusing in particular on the way that technologies are leveraged both to investigate and to commit criminal offences. Her work takes a socio-legal approach, considering the legal, ethical, and social implications of the development and adoption of novel technologies, including those relating to algorithmic prediction and artificial intelligence. In investigating these areas, Allison draws on insights from a range of disciplinary fields including computer science, digital forensics, criminology, sociology, and psychology.

Her forthcoming book, Policing Communications Data: Privacy, Surveillance, and Policy (Routledge) considers how the digitalisation of policing and the increasing datafication of individuals is in conflict with existing legal mechanisms for privacy and data protection.