Alison is a Lecturer in Work Psychology and HRM Education in the Human Resource Management and Employment Relations department of King's Business School. She joined the academic faculty of KBS in September 2021 as a Teaching Fellow, and became a Lecturer in 2023. Prior to that, she completed her PhD at KCL in Management Studies.

Alison's disciplinary research focuses on the application of psychological people management practices to non-profit and volunteer contexts. Having started her working life in the non-profit sector, she is particularly interested in how psychological models and theories developed in for-profit contexts can be applied to benefit non-profit organisations.

She also conducts scholarship/pedagogical research on teaching effectiveness in higher education, with a focus on the evaluation of innovative teaching methods; the application of digital technologies in education, including Generative AI; and academic careers. She is passionate about inclusive education, and her current project which has received funding from KCL’s Race Equity and Inclusive Education Fund (REIEF) is exploring how to diversify and decolonise management education.

Alison's teaching focuses on research methods, particularly quantitative research methods, statistics, and dissertation supervision. She currently teaches on the following modules: Quantitative Data Analytics (Level 5), Capstone Dissertation (Level 6), HR Data and Analytics (Level 7), and HRM Dissertation (Level 7).

Alison is a Chartered Psychologist, and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Prior to studying for her PhD, she was a business psychology consultant, working with various organisations across private, public, and non-profit sectors, both within the UK and internationally.

Dr Alison McFarland is currently accepting new PhD students.