Tim Allen is inaugural Director of the Firoz Lalji Centre for Africa. and is Professor in Development Anthropology in the Department of International Development at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His research has focused on international criminal justice, non-formal accountability mechanisms, forced migration, reintegration following displacements, war and conflict, aid programs, witchcraft and social healing, tropical diseases, HIV/AIDS and health programs. He has carried out long-term field research in several African countries, mostly in East Africa. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. He is currently the Principal Investigator for the five-year ESRC-funded Centre for Public Authority and International Development, as well as several other grants funded by the UK research councils (ESRC, AHRC, GCRF).
His publications include the bestselling textbook, Poverty and Development (Oxford University Press 1992, 2000, and now in preparation for a third edition), books on ethnic conflict in Europe, media coverage of wars, links between culture and development issues, mass forced displacement in Africa, and about the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda (Trial Justice: The International Criminal Court and the Lord's Resistance Army, 2006, and The Lord’s Resistance Army: Myth and Reality, 2010 – the latter co-edited with Koen Vlassenroot). A new co-edited book, Humanitarianism, has just been published, and book about the Acholi people of Uganda will be published later this year.
In recent years he has also published extensively on aspects of tropical disease control, HIV/AIDS and ebola, mostly in collaboration with Professor Melissa Parker of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Research interests and areas of supervision
Complex emergencies; Neglected tropical diseases (especially Schistosomiasis and Lymphatic Filariasis); The International Criminal Court; The Lord's Resistance Army; Ethnic conflict; Forced migration; Local conceptions of health and healing; East Africa (especially Sudan, Uganda and Kenya); Development aid and agencies, and ethics of aid; Justice and security in fragile and conflict affected regions; Role of the media in fragile and conflict affected regions