Dr. Allen is a sociologist at the Institute of Applied Social Studies (IASS) at the University of Birmingham and an expert on the topic of contemporary Islamophobia. He has worked on the issues of inequality and discrimination.

Shortly after the events of 9/11 he was commissioned by the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia to co-author its "Summary report on Islamophobia in the EU after 11 September 2001" with Jorgen S. Nielsen.

Dr. Allen received funding from the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) to undertake research into the phenomenon of Islamophobia.