Alison started out as a lawyer, working in the courts, with MPs and for the voluntary sector before joining the public service in Australia. There she worked across a broad range of sectors: immigration policy & operations, economic development, gambling regulation & reform, health and competition policy. Alison left Australia in 2003, moving to Bangladesh, where she worked with a national disability rights organisation, helping with their communications, advocacy and evaluation to change laws to make disability rights a mainstream debate and funding allocation. She also worked with a national women lawyers' association, providing advice on a successful domestic violence prevention project supporting women in rural and remote villages.

Alison Robinson is NERC Director of Corporate Affairs, Futures & Change. Alison is responsible for NERC's corporate strategy and planning, evidence, corporate responsibility, communications, public engagement with environmental science, stakeholder engagement and takes a leading role in managing change.

Before joining NERC in July 2014, she led on external affairs, policy and communications during the successful start-up of the Legal Ombudsman, a national organisation established to reform consumer complaints and improve standards across the legal sector. While there, Alison was instrumental in raising the profile of the organisation and securing its new role to resolve consumer disputes about claims management companies.

Alison graduated with a combined degree in arts & law from the University of New South Wales, Australia, and completed a research masters of social policy & planning (Charles Sturt) while living and working in Dhaka, Bangladesh. She is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.