Alison Brown

Alison Brown is a Personal Chair in the School of Social Science at the University of Aberdeen, specializing in museum anthropology and Indigenous heritage. Her work bridges academic research with community collaboration, focusing on cultural revitalization through museum collections. She has held curatorial roles at UK institutions including the Pitt Rivers Museum and Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Current projects include the Leverhulme-funded 'Blackfoot Collections in UK Museums' network and the AHRC-supported 'Narrative Objects' project exploring Sakha cultural revival through festival artifacts.

Her research interests center on colonial legacies, Indigenous knowledge systems, and ethical museum practices. She co-edits Museum Worlds: Advances in Museum Research and serves on the Smithsonian SIMA National Advisory Board. Brown directs the MLitt Museum Studies program and has led grants totaling over £600k from AHRC, Leverhulme, and other bodies. Recent work emphasizes digital access to heritage and virtual collaboration between museums and Indigenous communities globally.

Key affiliations include the Scottish Centre for Himalayan Research and the Institute for Conflict, Transition, and Peace Research. She advises on museum ethics for institutions like the British Museum and collaborates internationally with Blackfoot and Sakha scholars on repatriation and cultural heritage initiatives.