Alison spent the first five years as a marine guide for Marine Dynamics Shark Tours interacting daily with divers. This opportunity enabled her to collect extensive observational data on Great White sharks from which she completed her Master’s through the University of Cape Town. 

With colleagues at the Dyer Island Conservation Trust, Alison has co-authored and led publications on Great White shark regional population dynamics, wound healing, hunting behaviour, movements, tagging, and Orca predation. Alison has completed her PhD studies on white sharks with a focus on tracking and telemetry. Alison led the necropsies on white sharks post-orca predation and the subsequent research around this topic. 

Alison’s philosophy is that science can save sharks and she is committed to research that helps us better understand sharks and in turn better protect them. She has contributed to two global papers – one on the future directions of white shark research, as well as one addressing the global spatial risk assessment of sharks under the footprint of fisheries. 

She has worked extensively with the media and her research has been featured with National Geographic, BBC, and Discovery channel among various other productions. She is one of the few female regular hosts on Shark Week which has a viewership of 40 million. Alison co-hosted Air Jaws: The Hunted following the intriguing and unprecedented events of orca predation on white sharks in South Africa. 

Alison also represented Marine Dynamics as the South African Tourism marine guide in the SA Tourism UK campaign and hosted presentations at the Wildlife & Safari Show UK.