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Allison began work in the sociology/ anthropology of childhood in the late 1970s and helped pioneer the theoretical and methodological approaches to research with children which are now central to childhood studies. Her early work focused on children as social actors and explored children’s language and culture in relation to theories of socialisation. Later she became interested in children’s attitudes towards sickness and bodily difference, children's experiences of everyday life at home and at school, their perceptions of family and food and their understandings of hospital space. She also researched and published in the area of the sociology of food and health. She is author/ editor of 18 books, and numerous articles in edited collections and journals.

Allison was for many years Director of the internationally acclaimed Centre for the Study of Childhood and Youth at the University of ºù«Ӱҵ and also Director of the university’s Interdisciplinary Centre for the Social Sciences. Allison developed many long standing international research relationships during her research career and , for a number of years, held a Professor 2 appointment at the childhood centre NOSEB based in Trondheim, Norway. She received an Honorary Doctorate from Karlstad University in Sweden and was elected as an Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences.